The (Other) End of the Road
by Simply Rexene
Summary: A re-write of The End of the Road. When Roxas Michaels inherits a farm from his grandfather in a rural little backwater community, his life takes a sudden turn in a whole new direction. But Destiny Township has something that New York City never had; Axel Flynn, a rival farmer from a rival family that can't seem to stop himself from crossing paths with Roxas every chance he gets.
1. One

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter One_

 **A/N:** Yes! You're reading that correctly. I am _re-writing_ 'The End of the Road,' my Kingdom Hearts/Harvest Moon fiction featuring some Roxas and Axel love. While I adored the story, I feel like it ended up going completely off the rails to the point where I had absolutely no idea how to continue it! But not this time. This time I'm doing it right! There'll be some major changes to the story, but the town will stay the same. ...You'll see. Hope you like it!

...

 _You should go to your cousin's wedding_ , Mom said... _You really should reconnect with that side of the family._...Bullshit. I should have known that driving down to Destiny Township would result in some crazy, convoluted plan to get me to move out there.

I swear to God, my family were a bunch of mind ninjas. Because they actually managed to convince me, in the short 24 hours that I was in town, to give up my life in New York and take over my late grandfather's farm. Don't get me wrong, I loved gramps... but in no way did I really want to move out to the middle of nowhere and start a new life as a farmer.

But my brother and cousin had sweet talked me until I ended up signing the papers to take the farm, and now I really couldn't back out. Which was why I was currently unpacking the contents of my small New York apartment into a nice, yet ancient house on the west side of Destiny Township.

"Yo, Roxas! You ready to go say hi to everyone?"

I jumped out of my skin as my cousin Hayner suddenly appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, apparently not even bothering to knock first before just busting in. "Good God, Hayner... must you always just barge right in?"

"We're family, I don't have to knock," he grinned, leaning his shoulder against the door frame.

"Back in New York, you'd get shot for doing that," I reminded him that I wasn't used to such an open lifestyle. My apartment had three deadbolts and two chains on the door, and I slept with a gun under my mattress.

He just snorted and shrugged. "So? You ready? Everyone wants to say hi."

"I literally _just_ saw them at your wedding, Hayner. Can't it wait until I unpack a little more?"

"...Roxas, the wedding was nearly six months ago. Come say hi to people! Besides, your brother wanted you to stop by the Cafe."

I set aside the box of dishes I was unwrapping and sighed heavily, running a hand through my thick, blond hair. It was a trait most of the Michaels men seemed to share, though it somehow skipped over my other set of cousins, Sora and Vanitas. "Right... I'll go see Ven. _And Ven only_ ," I stressed, leveling my blue eyes on him.

"Fine," he scoffed, rolling his eyes right back at me. "But you didn't even take the time to see the town when you were here last! Can't I at least show you around?"

I couldn't figure out a way to tell him that I honestly just didn't care, so I instead decided to change the subject. "So... there's _nobody_ else that could take over grandpa's farm? It really has to be me?"

"Roxas, you already signed the papers. If you were going to back out, you should have done it months ago. You're kind of stuck here now," he told me, crossing his arms over his chest. "And anyways, there's really nobody else to run it in his absence. I've got my own farm, Ven has the Cafe, Sora and Van work the Carpentry Shop..."

"What about Uncle Cloud? Can't he take over?"

"No, Roxas, he can't. He's got a whole family to worry about without running a farm as well. Look," he narrowed his eyes on me, stepping forward to loom over my head. Damn him for having a good four inches of height on me. "We're not too keen on having a newbie take over the family farm either. But Gramps left it to _you_ , Roxas. He specifically stated in his will that he wanted you to have first dibs on his land. Even though you literally never visited us until my wedding, he was always going on about how special he thought you were and how bad he felt that you didn't get to grow up here with everyone else. God knows why... he barely knew you, just like we barely know you."

I growled under my breath in frustration and sat down at the dining room table, sick of having him talk down to me like that. "Right. Like it was my fault that my mom and dad separated Ven and I when we were babies. He got to stay here with Dad while I got carted off to New York with Mom. It was the only life I knew, Hayner. And when she told me that I had a bunch of family here, I did want to come get to know my brother, along with everyone else. But New York was my home and ...I was scared. That's why I've stayed so distant."

"You didn't even come to your father's funeral, Roxas..." his jaw tensed a little as he brought up the bitter memory.

"I never knew my father, Hayner. Can't you understand that? I mean... I was just a kid. I'd literally _just_ found out that I had a brother, let alone an actual father, and then to find out that he died? Just like that? ...Do you know how many nights I stayed awake wondering what my dad was like?"

He sat down across from me at the table, his face softening a bit. "I never really thought about it like that... I guess I've only ever heard one side of the story. But really, Roxas. The Michaels will always have your back. We're the closest knit family you'll ever find. So... come say hi to everyone? Try to make an effort?"

"I suppose I could... I guess I'm just not used to having a family to support me. It's always just been me and Mom against the world. But you're right, I need to make an effort to get to know everybody," I nodded, standing up and straightening my black t-shirt out.

"Great!" his attitude shifted as he plastered a grin on his face. Damned mind ninja... He'd somehow convinced me that I really did want to be social.

I headed outside with him, the bright sun blinding me for a moment. "So... where are we starting? The farm across the street from mine?"

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at me with absolute disgust. "No. We don't talk to them, we don't talk about them. You ignore them and pretend that they don't exist. Bastards..."

"Whoa..." I took a step back, throwing my hands up in innocence. "I won't mention it again. Calm down."

"Good. Their name isn't even worth saying," he hissed, setting off down the dirt path into town. In the stretch out here to the west, there were just the three farms. Hayner's, mine next door and then the mysterious farm across the street.

Heading into the town square, Hayner first dragged me towards the Town Hall. "Who on Earth could we possibly be visiting here, Hayner?" I wondered, looking around curiously.

"Uhm... the mayor?" he laughed, cupping his hands around his mouth and hollering, "Eraqus! Get your sorry ass out here and say hi to Roxas!"

I didn't know any kind of mayor that would be okay with someone speaking to them like that, but Eraqus rounded the corner with a smile on his face like that was just their norm. "Roxas! Oh, it's been so long since I've seen you... I wanted to say hi at the wedding, but you always seemed to disappear just before I could approach you."

 _Maybe because I was hiding from everyone..._ I thought to myself as I plastered a grin on my face and shook his outstretched hand. "Right... sorry about that. It was getting overwhelming to talk to everyone in town all at once."

"Completely understood. Hopefully tonight at the Cafe goes a lot better for you."

I turned a glare on Hayner, my pupils dilating in anger. "What's going on tonight at the Cafe?"

"Nothing special... don't worry about it," he shrugged, brushing off my question.

"Eraqus, what do they have planned for tonight?!" my voice cracked a little as a wave of anxiety washed over me.

The mayor let out a bellowing laugh, patting me on the shoulder. "Just a small welcome party, Roxas. Nothing to be afraid of. We just wanted to let you know that you're truly welcome here."

"I don't like parties..." I muttered, all of the color draining from my face as I thought about having to socialize with so many people at once.

"I'll stay with you the whole time, Rox. Calm down," Hayner tossed an arm over my shoulders, turning me and guiding me out the door. "See you tonight, Eraqus!"

My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach as he led me to the next shop, my brain frantically trying to supress a panic attack. This... was going to be hell.

...

 **A/N:** So let me know, please! Better? Worse? I'm trying to flesh out my characters a lot more and give them some more detail and conflict. I know that this first chapter might have felt like a wall of information, but it'll clear up a lot of confusion in the future. And yes, the family structure is definitely different from the first version of the story. You'll see why later.

Love you guys! Remember to review and let me know what you think!

 _Simply Rexene_


	2. Two

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Two_

"So right next door here is Radiance Inn, run by the Gainsboroughs. There's someone I've been dying for you to meet since you got here," he told me, keeping a vice grip around my shoulders as he steered me into the building. "She wasn't at the wedding because she was out of town taking care of some business with her father, but... you're gonna love her."

My ears perked at that last statement and I immediately knew what was going on here. "Hayner, you are _not_ setting me up with any-"

"Hayner! Roxas! Welcome!" a small blonde behind the front counter cut me off, wearing a wide grin that rivaled the Cheshire cat. "Ooh, I'm so glad you got him out of the house!"

"Well I wasn't just going to let him hermit his life away," Hayner laughed, pushing me right up to the counter and grabbing my arm, extending my hand to her so she could shake it. "Roxas, this is Namine. She's one of the Gainsborough triplets. Her and her grandmother run the Inn."

I limply returned the handshake, refusing to meet her bright blue eyes. I didn't want to give her any idea at all whatsoever that I might be interested. "Nice to meet you..." I mumbled, staring at the freshly polished floorboards.

Of course, I was met with an elbow to the side from Hayner. "Don't be rude, you idiot. Look at her," he hissed in my ear.

Turning my eyes up to her, I gave her a feeble smile, feeling some bile rush up into my throat.

"Leave him alone, Hayner. He's just nervous," she giggled, flipping her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder and leaning her elbows on the counter, which put her face entirely too close to mine for comfort. "It's funny... I heard you and Ven were twins, but you're somehow very different from him."

"What're you talking about? They look exactly alike," Hayner snorted in the background.

Namine just chuckled under her breath, "It's subtle, Hayner. Subtlty isn't exactly your strong suit."

I felt like I was going to be sick. She was already flirting with me, and it seemed like this wouldn't be the last time I'd have to deal with it.

"Hey! Perfect idea, Roxas. How about Namine shows you around? I've really got to get back to the farm, and I don't believe there are any visitors in town at the moment for her to fuss over."

"Oh, what a fantastic idea! I'd love to show you around, Roxas," she beamed, practically running around the counter to my side.

I shot Hayner a wide-eyed look of terror, trying not to let her see. "Hayner... can I talk to you for just a moment? Alone?"

"I suppose so. Namine, you wanna wait outside and we'll catch up in a second?"

She nodded and practically skipped out the door, leaving us alone in the front lobby.

" _Hayner_ ," I growled, resisting the urge to sock him in the stomach. "Are you seriously trying to set me up with this girl? Already? I've been in town for half a day!"

"Oh come on... lighten up! She's super cute, and you guys would be adorable together! Hell, I would've introduced you at the wedding if she'd been there."

I started to grind my teeth together, not even sure how to respond to that. "She's not really my _type_ , Hayner..."

"Seriously? What man doesn't love a hot blonde girl? Look, just give her a chance. Let her show you around town, and at least be friendly," he said, starting to shove me towards the door again.

"I fucking hate you," I mumbled, stumbling out into the blinding sunlight once again.

"All right, you two. I've got to get going, but I'll see you both tonight at the Cafe! Have fun," Hayner said, already backing down the path to the west. Before I could object again, he took off at a brisk walk, disappearing quickly.

I turned to Namine, cringing a little when I was met with the same wide grin as before. "So..."

"C'mon! Let's go see Luxord at the General Store," she chirped, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the store.

I could feel my palms start to sweat the instant she grabbed my hand, but she didn't seem to mind too much because she kept a vice grip on me regardless.

"Hey Nami, hey Ven," the man behind the counter greeted us without even looking up.

"Luxord! This isn't Ventus, silly!" she giggled, the sound grating on my nerves a bit. "This is Roxas, his brother."

He looked up and did a double take, his face flushing a bit red at the mix-up. "Terribly sorry, Roxas. I... I do remember you from the wedding. On quick glance, you really do look just like your brother."

"So I've been told..." I trailed off, remembering him from the wedding as well. He was the only remotely attractive man there, even though he had to be a good 10 years older than me at least. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise," he nodded, speaking in a thick English accent. "Have you met my daughter, Larxene?"

I tried to recall the name, but it wasn't coming to me. "I don't think so, no."

"Larxene! Come on out and meet Roxas!" he hollered into the back room.

Moments later, another super-blonde girl sashayed out from the back and scanned me with her eyes. "Ooh... How old are you, Roxas?" she asked me, looking a bit skeptical.

"Uhm... I'm 25," I told her, wondering why the hell she'd ask. She couldn't have been more than 18 years old. _Maybe_.

"All right, Daddy, I approve," she quipped, patting him on the shoulder before disappearing into the back.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Approve what?"

He chuckled nervously, running a hand over his blond, buzzed hair. "She feels the need to tell me who I'm allowed to befriend. ...It's silly."

"Aww, I think it's cute that she's protective over you!" Namine squealed, scaring me half to death. I'd almost forgotten that she was there.

"Right... cute..." his face flushed again, and I figured it was time to say goodbye and stop embarrassing the poor man.

"Namine, can we go see Ventus now? I'm going to feel bad if I keep him waiting too long," I told her, this time trying to pull her towards the door.

She nodded, waving to Luxord, "Bye! We'll see you tonight!"

I sighed as I was once again reminded of the party I'd be forced to attend that night. "Y'know... I really appreciate you showing me around and all, but if you can just point me in the direction of the Cafe, I'll-"

"Oh, nonsense! We've got so much more to see!" she exclaimed, boldly hooking her arm with mine as she steered us towards the Cafe. "Ventusss! I've got someone you wanna seee!" she sang as we entered the building, alerting literally everybody to my presence there.

Thankfully he rushed out of the kitchen and pulled me away from her into a hug, because having her hanging off my arm was making me incredibly uncomfortable. "Roxas! I'm so glad you're here. _And with Namine too? Score!_ " he whispered the last past in my ear, grinning happily.

Great. So he was in on it too. "It's good to see you, Ven. How've you been?"

"I've been awesome! The Cafe is running smoothly, everyone loves my food... I'm living the dream!"

"Good... I'm glad. I've got to admit, taking over Grandpa's farm is ...incredibly terrifying for me," I told him, laughing awkwardly.

He frowned a little, "Yeah... I was really nervous to take over the Cafe after Dad died too. But hey, if you ever need any help at all, you know where to find me."

"I appreciate it, Ven. And I really am happy that you're doing so well out here. I just hope I can manage to do half as well..."

"Hey, Roxas! Come meet Aqua!" Namine again scared the living shit out of me, grabbing my hand out of nowhere and yanking me away from my brother.

I groaned and followed her over to a tall girl with light blue hair who was taking an order at a table.

"Aqua, meet Roxas. Roxas, Aqua."

"Namine, I do remember him from the wedding, you know," the waitress laughed, tucking her pen behind her ear and holding her hand out to me. "We talked briefly before, but I don't blame you if you don't remember me. I'm the mayor's daughter."

I actually did remember her, so I didn't feel quite so terrible. "Right! I forgot that you worked here with Ven. How've you been?"

"Oh, I've been good. Ventus is so fun to work for," she smiled, "But I am at work, so I've got to go get this order in. I'll see you tonight!"

"Yepp..." I nodded, watching her walk away. I recalled her being a pretty down to Earth person, and I could see her being a good friend of mine.

Namine was already moving on to the next introductions, which involved the two guys at the table Aqua had just been waiting on. "Terra, Xigbar, do you guys remember Roxas?"

Luckily both of them just nodded and grunted, "Hey." They seemed about as antisocial as I was.

"They run the Blacksmith together. They'll hook you up with any tools you might need," she told me, hooking herself onto my arm again.

I tried to shake her off, untangling myself from her and stepping back a couple feet. "All right, Namine. I think I've met enough of the town for now. Can't I just meet everyone else at the party?"

She stared at me with a blank expression for a minute, blinking a couple times slowly like she was trying to comprehend what I'd said. "Nonsense! We've got to go see Xion at the bar or she'll kill me!"

...Bar? Was one in the afternoon too early for a drink? "Who's Xion?"

"My sister, silly! And then we've got to see Mom at the clinic and Kairi at the flower shop! She's my other sister. We're triplets!"

"Right... Hayner told me," I mumbled. I wasn't sure if I could handle Namine alone, much less if there were three of her.

I gave a small wave to Ventus as she dragged me right back out the door, wishing that I'd gotten a little more time with my brother. I was kind of pissed that the entire family seemed to be in on this setup with Namine, because nobody seemed to be thinking about what _I_ actually wanted. And believe me... it wasn't her.

...

 **A/N:** Yay! Another chapter out already! I was so hoping I'd have time before work to update. As you can see, right now we're following a similar structure to the first story, but with some quite obvious differences. And really, I love it so much better already!

Thank you SO much to those of you that have already reviewed! Please continue to let me know what you think!

Love you guys!

 _Simply Rexene_


	3. Three

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Three_

"Hurry upppp!" Namine whined as I dragged my feet a little making it to the bar. I was definitely kind of excited that such a small town even _had_ a bar, but I really didn't want to meet 'Namine Clone Number One.' ...Er. Xion.

"So the bar doesn't open officially until five, but I know that it's inventory day so Riku and Xion will be there now. They won't mind us dropping in," she rambled, though I was only half listening to her. I was starting to develop this ringing in my ears that was tuning out her voice. My anxiety level was building through the roof as I continued to think about the party that night.

"Ooohh... what do we have here?" Xion's voice sounded like that of a prowling animal. She was most certainly Namine's triplet, because the only difference between them was Xion's raven black hair. "Nami, did you finally catch yourself a man?"

Namine whacked her on the arm, giggling like a little schoolgirl. "Shut up! I'm just showing Roxas around town and I knew you'd wanna meet him before the party."

"Rightttt," Xion cackled rather evilly, poking her sister in the side before turning to me. "Isn't she just so cute?"

I coughed awkwardly, nodding a little. "S..sure... I guess so."

"Ooh, I can just smell the budding romance!" she swooned dramatically, earning an embarrassed glare from Namine. "Anyways, lemme go get Riku. He's been dying to meet Sora's cousin!"

As Xion ran off to the back room, Namine turned to me with a heavy blush on her cheeks. "Yeah, Riku and Sora have been best friends since they were kids..."

"You don't have to be so embarrassed, Namine. I don't even-"

"Roxas!" a low voice cut me off as I was clapped on the shoulder by a tall guy with long, white hair. "Good to finally meet ya! I looked for you at the wedding to say hi, but you were tough to find!"

I chuckled nervously, shrugging my shoulders. "Yeah, well... it was difficult to try and meet everyone in just that one night. It's, uh... nice to meet you."

"Now listen. Don't let these girls push you around too much, okay? They live in their own little fantasy world. If you ever need a break from the squealing and giggles, just find Sora and I. We're a lot more chill."

"That... actually sounds nice. We'll hang out sometime," I nodded, glad that I wasn't the only one who found them obnoxious.

"I'll be helping Ven cook for the party tonight, so I might not run into you. We always get together to cater big events like this. But hey, maybe you can sneak into the kitchen to say hi."

I had to fight back the urge to throw up again. "How... how big is this party going to be...?"

"I mean... the whole town is going to be there. Did you think we would leave people out?" he laughed, not understanding how terrifying that was to me.

"Oh... okay..." I gulped, my mouth suddenly feeling super dry. "Uhm. Does that include the people that live in that farm across from me? Hayner didn't seem to wanna talk about them."

The shadow of hatred that washed over his face was scary enough to make me want to take a few steps back. "Don't worry about them, Roxas. There's a reason Hayner didn't want to mention them."

 _So who's going to tell me why?_ I wondered, knowing better than to ask based on the look on his face.

"Riku, we've got a ton to do today before the party. We really should get back to work," Xion tugged on his sleeve, motioning for him to follow her. "It was really good to meet you, Roxas. We'll see you later."

Immediately I was being redirected into a building that must've been the town Clinic. I felt like my head was spinning, she was moving me around so fast. "Mom!"

"What is it? Who's hurt?!" a petite brunette lady came flying down the stairs, wearing a pair of pink nurse's scrubs.

"Nobody, Mom. I brought Roxas by to say hello!" Namine laughed, keeping herself suctioned to my arm.

The older woman smiled warmly and extended a hand, "I'm Aerith. I work here as a nurse."

"I never would have guessed," I gave a poor attempt at a joke, gesturing to her outfit.

"Oh!" she chuckled, "Well, I suppose I do look the part, don't I? Anyways, it looks like you and Namine are getting along well. I'm so thrilled... I was hoping that you two would hit it off. She's always been kind of a lonely girl, you know?"

" _Mom_ ," Namine hissed, her eyes widening as she finally detached herself from my arm. "What is with you guys and totally embarrassing me?!"

Aerith just gave that laugh that moms give when they know they've thoroughly embarrassed their children. "Oh, hush. I'm allowed, I'm your mother."

"Aerith, who's here? Is somebody hurt?"

I looked over as a tall man with long blue hair descended the stairs, fully decked out in black dress pants and a white doctor's jacket. He also had a peculiar scar right on the bridge of his nose in the shape of an 'X.'

"Not at all, Saix! Roxas has finally moved in. Remember him from the wedding?"

He scanned over me with his piercing golden eyes for a moment before nodding. "Ah, yes. Ven's brother. How are you liking the town so far?"

"It's been fine," I muttered quietly, starting to wring my hands together. My stress levels were really growing strong from meeting everybody.

"...Roxas, are you suffering from a bit of anxiety?"

My gaze snapped up to him and I nodded quickly, incredibly glad that somebody finally noticed. "Yes... a lot. They're throwing me this party tonight, and I'm... well, quite frankly, I'm terrified."

Namine frowned, cooing a little as she patted me on the shoulder. "Aww, Rox... I'm sorry. We really should have asked if it was okay with you."

"It's cool. Nobody really thinks about whether or not I'm a socially awkward basket case. They all just assume I'm some normal guy."

"Should we cancel?" Aerith asked me, her brow furrowed with worry.

I sighed heavily, because I knew I couldn't ask them to do that. "No... Don't cancel. I'll be okay."

"Why don't you take a break and head home? Have some alone time before the party?" Saix suggested. "But I would like to see you in the future, because you might do well on a medication to help manage your anxiety. I'd have to order it in from the next city over, but I'd need to do a full evaluation first to determine if it's necessary."

"That sounds good, Saix. Thank you," I nodded, already feeling a bit of the weight lift off my shoulders. "Namine, I appreciate you showing me around, but I'm going to take his advice. I'll come to the party later and meet everyone else, okay?"

She pouted a bit, whining softly. "Aww... Okay. But sit with me at the Cafe?"

"We'll see," I told her, not wanting to promise anything. Honestly, I kind of wanted to sit with Luxord at the party. He seemed like an interesting guy, and I wanted to know more about him.

Leaving the Clinic alone, I sucked in a deep breath of fresh air and felt even more of my anxiety lift away. I was going to try my damned hardest to make it through the party without a panic attack, and this break would definitely help.

Before I turned down the path to my own farm, I had to stop for a moment to check out that mysterious farm across the street. It was huge, and seemed to be quite lively with animals and abundant with crops. But what I didn't expect to see was a tall, bright red-headed man running at full force down an open field with a huge shaggy dog right on his heels.

"Whoo! C'mon boy, catch up!" I could hear him yell, his voice sounding like he was having an absolute blast.

Completely intrigued, I stepped up to the fence to watch as he started to slow down, letting the dog take the lead before stopping and flopping onto the ground on his back. "Aww, you beat me again, Charlie!" he laughed as the dog sat down on his chest and started licking him all over his face.

Were these the neighbors that Hayner hated so much? I wished that I could see more of him, because judging by his build alone, he was bound to be incredibly attractive. The dog looked like a Saint Bernard that must have been 150 pounds easily. I think the dog weighed more than the man did.

I was totally mesmerized watching this guy roll around in the grass with his dog without a care in the world, just laughing and enjoying his company. It was super fucking adorable, and for once in my life, I actually wanted to go introduce myself.

...But then I remember what Hayner had said. Leave them alone, pretend they don't exist. He had to have said it for a reason. So... I turned around and headed home.

...

 **A/N:** Ooh, bold move to wait on Roxas and Axel meeting for the first time. What on Earth could I possibly be brewing up here? I guessssss you'll just have to read on and find out!

Also, two updates in one day? Go me! :3

Love you guys, keep reviewing please!

 _Simply Rexene_


	4. Four

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Four_

My heart was thumping inside my chest so hard that it was giving me a headache, and for a long moment my hand hovered over the doorknob to the Cafe, frozen in fear.

"C'mon, Roxas, you can do this..." I whispered to myself, taking in a deep breath as I pushed the door open, stepping inside.

"Welcome to Destiny Township, Roxas!" a wave of sound hit me right in the face, causing my heart to leap up into my throat.

Hayner and Ventus pushed their way through the crowd and put their arms around my shoulders, one of them shoving a glass of champagne into my hand while they led me further inside. I was getting increasingly nervous as I watched Ventus let go of me and raise a glass to the crowd of people. He was going to give a speech...

"Thank you everybody for being here tonight to celebrate the arrival of my brother, Roxas, to our amazing little town. As you guys know, while I got to stay here and grow up with the Michaels family, Roxas missed out on the opportunity. Well let me just say... I couldn't be more excited to have him here now, keeping the family farm running. It feels like the family is finally complete. To Roxas!"

"To Roxas!" the crowd cheered, raising their glasses in a toast.

My face felt like it was on fire, and I had to have been bright red by the time they were done cheering for me. I hadn't even done anything to deserve it... All I did was move there. "T...thanks everyone," I chuckled nervously before downing my entire glass of champagne. It'd take a lot more than that to get me through the night.

I could see Namine staring at me from one of the booths along the wall, and I was about to go say hi to her to be polite when suddenly I was sucked into a circle of family members. "Roxas! Why didn't you come see Van and I earlier? You stopped to see Ventus!"

"Sora, don't badger him. He's probably tired from the move," Aunt Tifa scolded my cousin, who looked incredibly displeased with me.

"Wow, you look so much like my brother..." Uncle Cloud mused, looking over me.

I raised an eyebrow and laughed a little, "I mean... so does Ven. Are you really surprised by that?"

Vanitas just stood there looking broody with his arms crossed over his chest, seeming just as irritated as I was to be there. I knew I liked him for a reason. He was just as anti-social as I was. "Hey Van."

He grunted something unintelligable and stalked away while I was yanked into a tight hug by my aunt and my little cousin Yuna. "Ohh, we're so glad you're finally here... We've always wanted to get to know you, Roxas, and you kept running away from us at the wedding!"

"I... well... it was a little overwhelming for me, y'know?" I told her, shrugging. "I... don't really do well around a lot of people."

A look of worry crossed her face as she picked Yuna up, who was dancing around her feet with her arms up in the air. "I'm sorry, we had no idea..."

"It's all right," I smiled softly, trying to figure out how to change the subject. "So how old is Yuna now? She's gotten bigger since I saw her last."

"She just turned three last month," Tifa grinned, bopping her daughter on the nose. "She was definitely our little surprise."

I chuckled, "Well yeah. Van and Sora are how old?"

"Vanitas is 27 and Sora is 23. You and Ven came around right inbetween the two of them. I mean... I know we had Van and Sora while we were pretty young, but I definitely didn't expect to have a three year old daughter at my age."

"What're you talking about? You look like you could be in your twenties, Aunt Tifa," I teased, giving Yuna a poke in the side and listening to her giggle.

"You're too sweet, Roxas," she blushed, shifting Yuna to her other side. "But go meet everyone else! Don't let us keep you away from the party."

I sighed, "Believe me... I'd rather talk with you guys all night. I want to get to know everybody, but not all at once."

"Did you get to know Namine at all yet?" she waggled an eyebrow suggestively. It was obvious that the entire family thought we were a match made in heaven, and I didn't really have the heart to tell them otherwise.

"Yeah, she was showing me around earlier... She's a very nice girl, but I just-"

"Roxas!" Sora threw an arm around me, cutting me off as he started to drag me away from Tifa. "You gotta come meet my girlfriend!"

I stumbled a little bit as he pulled me along, trying to keep my balance. Two years younger than me and he was still taller... I could barely keep up with his lanky legs. "Girlfriend?"

"Yepp. Kairi Gainsborough, one of the triplets. By the way, did you meet Namine yet?"

I rolled my eyes, incredibly sick of this whole conspiracy. "Yes, Sora. I met Namine."

"Kairi! Marluxia! Did you get a chance to say hi to Roxas yet?" Sora sat me down at a table with a red-headed girl and a man with pale pink hair that looked... interesting.

"Roxas, darling! You look absolutely fetching!" the man stood up and yanked me into a bone-crushing hug. He smelled oddly like roses, and he spoke in a very effeminate voice.

Sora peeled Marluxia off of me and forced him to sit back down in his chair. "We don't need to send him running now, Marly."

"Marly and I work together at the flower shop," Kairi told me, latching herself onto Sora's arm as he sat down beside her. "We talked a little at the wedding, but I didn't really get to know you at all. What were you doing in New York before you came here?"

"I was a journalist. I wrote for the New York Times."

It seemed like it went right over her head just how big that newspaper was, which didn't surprise me. These people were raised far away from the rest of the world. "Oh! How neat. You know, we don't have any kind of newspaper or anything here. Maybe you could start like a newsletter or something?"

"It's not like there's much that's newsworthy out here, Kai," Sora reminded her. "But it does seem like a cool idea. Maybe we could figure something out. I'd talk to Eraqus about it for sure."

They started to chatter back and forth about it, but the longer I sat there, the worse my anxiety was getting. They all stopped talking as I suddenly stood up, looking concerned. "Uhm... I just need to... There's a lot more people I need to talk to. I'll mention the idea to Eraqus," I rambled quickly, looking around for somewhere quiet I could go.

"Roxas," the sound of a smooth British accent came from behind me. I turned around to face Luxord, who was holding a couple cans of beer. "You look like you need one of these."

I took one from him and cracked it open, nodding quickly. "Thank you. You have no idea."

"Did I just hear you say you wrote for the New York Times?" he asked, motioning for me to follow him over to one of the booths in the back away from the crowd.

"Yeah... It was an amazing job. Stressful, but very worth it," I told him, sitting down across from him.

He gave me an incredulous look, "You gave up a job at the New York Times to come live _here_?"

"Well... I've been wanting to get to know my family for such a long time, and when the opportunity came up..."

"You dropped your bigshot life in New York to come out here? Wow. That takes a lot of guts," he commended me, leaning back in the booth.

I chuckled, "Well... Ventus and Hayner kind of mind-fucked me into signing the papers before I could really think about it. But I am glad I'm here. I already feel like part of the family, even though none of them really know me yet."

"Yeah? You tell any of them your ...preference yet?"

"Preference?" I quirked a brow curiously, wondering what he meant by that.

"Roxas, you've been eye-fucking me since we first met. You're gay, aren't you?"

My eyes widened and I kicked him under the table. "Keep your damned voice down! No, I haven't told anybody yet. ...Besides, you are too. Do they know about you?"

"Larxene does, but nobody else in town. It's none of their damned business. And anyways, before you showed up I was the only gay man in town anyways so it didn't matter."

"Oh, and now it does? Just because we're both gay doesn't mean I'm going to date you or anything, you know," I whispered to him under my breath, "You've got to be at least 10 years older than me anyways."

He smirked. "Twelve, but what does that matter? And I'm not looking to date you either, blondie. But... if you ever wanted to have a bit of fun here and there, do let me know."

With that, he stood up and walked away, leaving me there to gape wildly. How... did that conversation just happen?

...

 **A/N:** WHOA. Game changer. This is where the story is going to change quite a bit. Stay tuned for the second half of the party!

Love ya! Please remember to review!

 _Simply Rexene_


	5. Five

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Five_

I sat there in the booth for another long moment, trying to determine if I'd just had some sort of delusion or if Luxord had really just offered to be my fuckbuddy. Everybody seemed distracted, and it took me a minute to realize that it was because Ventus and Riku had brought out the food.

Like a deer in the headlights, I froze and waited to see if anybody was going to come over and drag me to the table, but they all just swarmed the buffet table and forgot I even existed. My eyes darted over to the front door, and I wondered if maybe I could escape and get some fresh air for a few minutes.

I felt like a ninja creeping through the restaurant, ducking in and out of view and freezing if I thought anybody was going to look my way. But I did finally make it out the front door, letting it close very quietly behind me.

Moving over to lean against the fence of someone's nearby garden, I sucked in a deep breath of the crisp nighttime air and felt my anxiety float away.

"God damn it, why's this door locked?!" an outraged voice scared the living shit out of me. Looking around, I found a tall man with spiky red hair banging on the door of the bar, which was locked tight. It almost looked like the guy I'd seen earlier with his dog, but he seemed different. ...Angrier, at least. "Riku! Let me in, you sonofabitch!"

I don't think he noticed me standing there, so I watched him fight with the door for a couple minutes before approaching him. "Hey, uhm... I think the Bar is closed, man. Riku's over at the party with everyone else."

"Party? Why in the hell are they having a party? I need a fucking drink," he growled, kicking the door in irritation before finally looking over at me. "Ventus? What the fuck are you doing out here? Go get Riku and make him open the bar."

"I'm not-"

"God damned Michaels family... Every time someone takes a good shit they're throwing a fucking party..." he grumbled under his breath, shaking the door a few more times.

I waited for him to finish his rant before even bothering to try again. "I'm not Ventus. I'm his brother, Roxas. And who the hell are you anyways?"

His eyes widened and he stepped back, scanning over me suspiciously. "Oh holy fuck, there's two of you now? Can't you assholes just leave my family alone?!"

"...I have no idea what you're talking about," I sighed, guessing that he must own the farm across the street from me. "What the fuck is going on between our families?"

"Besides the fact that you steal all our business? That old man kicking it was the only thing that saved us from going under," he sneered, looking at me with absolute disgust.

I raised my eyebrows and snorted, "Oh, so the farm I'm taking over could potentially put you out of business? How interesting."

In two split seconds this guy had me pinned against the door of the bar, a fistful of my shirt clenched in his hand. "What the fuck did you just say?"

My heart just about stopped as he reared his fist back before I could even defend myself, and I prepared myself for the impact.

"Whoa! Reno, back the fuck off!" Hayner's voice broke the silence between us while I tried to make sense of what was happening. "Don't make me hit you, asshole."

He glowered down at me for another few seconds before letting go and backing away. "Fuck you guys," he stated, flipping us off before taking off down the west path.

"Good lord, Hayner, who was that?!" I asked him, trying to straighten out my shirt.

"Reno Flynn... he owns the farm across the path from us. He and his brother run it," he explained, flipping Reno the bird as he ran off.

I tried to calm my heart rate back down by breathing slowly, shaking a little bit. Reno had to have been a good foot taller than me at least, and judging by how hard I'd hit the door when he grabbed me, he was strong enough to murder me with his bare hands. "What the heck are they, a bunch of psychopaths?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Are you okay?"

"I wouldn't be if you hadn't come outside when you did," I chuckled nervously, my eyes still wide with fear. "Fuck, Hayner... is this seriously just a rivalry between farms? Or does it go deeper than that?"

His jaw tensed and he turned away from me, walking back towards the Cafe. "Drop it, Roxas. It's just better if you don't know."

"Fuck you, Hayner. I'm part of this family too, and I deserve to know about something as big as this!" I couldn't hold back my anger, but I really didn't mean to divert it towards him either.

He stopped walking and inhaled deeply, keeping his back turned. "I just came out here to tell you that we were missing you. But if you want to run away again, don't let me stop you."

"Wait! Hayner, I'm sorry... I'm just a little freaked out," I ran to catch up with him, turning him to face me. "Obviously there's a reason that you're keeping this from me, so... I'll respect that. Let's go back to the party, okay?"

His face remained cold for a moment before he finally nodded. "Right... let's get back to the party. Namine baked a pretty killer cake for you."

"Hey Hayner... this whole thing with Namine..."

Hayner raised an eyebrow, "What about it? Don't you like her?"

"I... well..."

"Roxas, get your ass back in here!" Ventus hollered from the doorway of the Cafe, waving us inside. "Demyx wants to meet you!"

I grumbled a little, really wanting to settle this whole Namine issue before it blew too far out of proportion. "Right. We're coming!"

Walking back into the Cafe, I was immediately mesmerized by the sound of a gorgeous guitar being played. Everybody was gathered around a guy with a crazy blond mohawk who was singing a beautiful song.

When he was done, we all applauded for him before the crowd dispersed again and returned to their food. Seeing me standing by the door, he stood up and waved and I assumed that it must be Demyx. "Hey! There's the man of the hour. How's it going?"

"That song was just... wow," I laughed, shaking his hand. I could certainly appreciate a good musician. "You played at the wedding, right? Sorry I didn't get a chance to come say hi."

"Ah, no worries. Events like that are difficult to socialize at, what with all the dancing and drinking. By the end of the night I couldn't tell a G chord from a B chord!"

I chuckled, having no idea what that actually meant. "What do you do around here? Besides impress everyone with your talent?"

"I'm a fisherman. I live in a cabin down by Arpeggio Lake. You'll have to come check it out sometime; I can teach you how to catch fish if you're interested."

"Sounds awesome. I never really had anyone to learn from growing up. Mom always had this irrational fear of fish," I smiled, feeling a lot more calm around him. I think his chill vibe was relaxing me.

He was about to say something, but suddenly stopped and ducked behind me as the door to the Cafe burst open."Oh shit... I think Xigbar finally found the trout I left under his bed earlier..."

Xigbar was storming at us in a rage, smelly fish in hand, looking ready to murder someone. "Seriously, Demyx?! Another one of your pranks?! You drew every cat in town into my bedroom! My room smells like a god damned fish market!"

"Why... would you leave a fish under his bed?" I asked him, looking over my shoulder as he cowered in fear.

He just shrugged, "Why not? Xiggy is the best person to prank. He gets so mad!"

"...Demyx, he looks about ready to kill you. How is that possibly a good thing?"

I didn't get an answer as Xigbar reached behind me and dragged Demyx out by the scruff of his neck, shoving the dead fish in his face. "You think this is funny, you little shit? I'm _allergic_ to cats. I'm going to have to have the place fumigated before I can sleep there again!"

Demyx just couldn't help himself... he busted up laughing, even in the position he was in. "Oh my... that is... priceless! I didn't even know!"

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Terra, who I remembered to be his apprentice at the blacksmith, trying to slink out of the room unseen. "Terra!" Xigbar bellowed, "Don't think I'm not angry with you too! I know you're the one that let him in there!"

While he was distracted, Demyx slipped out of his grip and took off out the door, cackling like a madman as he ran. It had to have been one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

"Damn it! Get back here you little-!" Xigbar's voice trailed off as he dashed to catch up with him.

Nobody in the room could keep a straight face, and we were all hooting with laughter for a moment before Aerith suddenly perked up and looked at Saix. "...He'll be okay, right?" she wondered, eyes wide.

Saix thought for a moment before motioning for her to follow him, heading out the door to go make sure Demyx didn't swallow any of his own teeth.

"Right... so that's something that happens pretty regularly around here," Ventus laughed, hooking an arm around my shoulders. "I think Xigbar secretly likes the attention, though he'd never admit it. He always tries to keep that scary tough guy demeanor about him, but I caught him smiling once. ...It was kind of creepy, actually."

Seemed like a little more between them than that, but that might've just been my mind playing tricks on me. Oddly enough, I was really starting to feel okay with being there. I guess I was beginning to realize that there was nothing to be afraid of. ...Besides Reno. I was fucking terrified of him.

...

 **A/N:** Omg omg omg! I fucking loveee XigDem. I can't wait to get further into that. But also... ooh, Reno is alive in this version! ...Anybody else dying to find out the real reason that the families hate each other? It's fucking _insane_.

Please keep leaving reviews! I really love hearing what you guys think.

 _Simply Rexene_


	6. Six

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Six_

"Looks like all it takes is a few beers to loosen ya up, eh?" Luxord clapped me on the back, making me sway back and forth a couple times in my seat.

I smiled up at him with a goofy grin, chuckling like a dork. "I only had four. ...And a half," I added right before finishing my fifth. "Okayyyy... five."

"Right," he laughed, "Hayner, you better walk him home tonight or he's gonna end up sleeping in a ditch somewhere."

"I'm fine!" I declared, standing up way too quickly and falling right into Luxord's arms. "Ooh, you're warm..."

Hayner snorted, walking over and prying me off of Luxord while I nuzzled against him like a cat. "All right, Roxas... maybe it's time to head home."

"But I wanna party! Let's dance," I pushed away from him and started to dance like a fool, regardless of the lack of music. "Whoa... head rush..." I stopped and grabbed my temples, trying to make the world quit spinning.

Ventus came over and hooked an arm under my armpit, holding me upright while Hayner grabbed me from the other side. Maybe I'd overdone it on the drinking... but it was the only way I made it through that ridiculous party. "C'mon, bud. One foot in front of the other."

"Goodbye everyone!" I sang at the top of my lungs, feebly waving to the remaining few people that were still hanging out. Most of the town had already turned in for the night, and I'm kind of glad that they hadn't seen me so drunk.

The two of them led me outside and started to walk me down the west path, trying to keep me on my feet long enough to get me home. "I'm glad you ended up having a good time, Rox."

I looked up at Ventus, gasping dramatically. "Whoa! You look exactly like me! How is that? How did you do that?"

Hayner busted up laughing while Ventus just facepalmed, chuckling as well. "Magic, Roxas. Magic."

When we finally got to my house, I let them help me into the living room before shrugging them off. "I got it from here! Go 'way now."

"How about we just help you get up to bed?" Hayner suggested, trying to grab at me again.

I snarled and bit at his hand like a dog would, flopping over on the couch and kicking one of my shoes off. "You go away now, okies?" my voice was muffled by the throw pillow I'd buried my face in.

"All right... Good night, Roxas. Holler if you need anything," he said, reaching down and pulling my other shoe off for me before leaving with Ventus.

I laid there for about ten minutes before rolling over and grumping loudly. That stupid couch was so uncomfortable. "God damned couch... gonna make me walk up the stairs..." I mumbled to myself, standing up rather unsteadily and making my way slowly upstairs to my bedroom.

When I saw the 150 pound ball of fluff laying on my bed, the screech that came out of my mouth was probably shrill enough to break glass. I had _not_ expected to see a huge dog lazing on my comforter, especially because I didn't even have a dog.

"Wait... you're... that next door dog, right?" I asked it as if it could answer me. "What was your name...? Chuckie... Chancey... Char... Charlie! Charlie, right?"

His ears perked up and his tail started to wag, and I figured I must have gotten it right.

"C'mon, Charlie. We gotta get you home," I clapped my hands, trying to get him to follow me. He seemed pretty willing to come with me, so I very carefully headed back down the stairs and wandered out the front door of my house. "C'mon..."

Walking up the porch steps to the Flynn house would have been terrifying if I hadn't still been incredibly drunk, but apparently I was a pretty bold person when intoxicated. I knocked on the door loudly, slamming my fist into it a few times before realizing that there was a doorbell and then hitting it repeatedly until someone came to the door.

"What the fucking hell do you-?" the redhead that answered the door stopped short, blinking a few times as he looked me over. "Ventus?"

" _Roxas_!" I shouted a bit too loudly, startling both him and the dog. "I found your horse."

He looked behind me to Charlie, motioning for him to come into the house. "...My horse?" he directed his gaze back to me and quirked a brow.

"Get it? 'Cause he's the size of a small horse," I started to cackle at my own joke, snorting a few times. It... was not my finest moment. "He was in my bed. I got all sorts of things wanting to be in my bed! Horses, British people... me! I wanna be in my bed."

"Are you okay...?" he glanced over me again. "You're not wearing any shoes..."

I stared down at my now dirty black socks, bursting into another fit of drunk giggles. "I'm not!"

"Who the hell are you?" his face was riddled with confusion, and he was desperately trying to put the pieces together.

"You're so hottt..." I drawled, craning my neck to look up at him. "And tall! How did you get so tall?"

He stared at me for a long moment before stepping back into his house. "I'm just gonna..." he trailed off, closing the door and leaving me alone on the porch.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, doodlie doodlie, there they are all standing in a rowwww," I sang to myself, humming the rest of the song while I stumbled back towards my house. I'd be absolutely amazing if I remembered anything after my third drink, much less the awkward encounter with my neighbor. I still had no idea who the guy was, but I knew one thing. He was _sexy._

...

 **A/N:** A short but necessary chapter because OMG HAPPY AKUROKU DAY! I couldn't not update on such a wonderful day! I really wanted this chapter to be the one where they met for the first time, though it took a RATHER unexpected turn. ;P Drunk Roxy is so cute! ...And did anyone else catch my Lion King reference at the end? :D

I love you guys! I promise the next chapter will be a lot longer to make up for this one.

Pleaseeee keep reviewing!

 _Simply Rexene_


	7. Seven

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Seven_

It had to have been well after noon by the time I finally woke up the next morning, disoriented and smelling fucking terrible. I sat up and stretched, having no idea what happened the night before. Everything after that whole thing with Demyx and Xigbar was just gone.

"Well fuck..." I mumbled, my mouth drier than the Sahara and my contacts glued to my eyeballs. Of course I'd forgotten to take them out.

I fumbled around my bedside table to find my contact case, sliding the dry as hell contacts out of my eyes and putting them back in their solution, effectively blinding myself. It'd definitely be a glasses day today.

Sliding my black, plastic framed glasses up the bridge of my nose, I finally looked over and noticed that I wasn't alone. There was a _huge_ dog laying next to me in bed, snoozing happily.

"Good Christ!" I exclaimed, nearly falling out of bed as I stood up and stared at it. What the hell was a dog doing in bed with me?! "...Are you...?"

Right. It was the dog from across the path. He must have gotten in somehow last night.

"Hey, Charlie?" I hoped that I was remembering his name correctly. He opened his eyes and rolled over, starting to wag his tail happily. "Okay... let me get changed and I'll take you home, okay?"

I'm not sure why I was talking to him like he could understand me, but he seemed cool with it so I decided to take a shower and then walk him over. Maybe he'd leave while I was washing off and I wouldn't even have to deal with it.

But was that my luck? Nope. I walked back into my room and Charlie was still lounging on my bed like an oversized bedbug. "Really? All right..." I sighed, getting dressed in a pair of dark jeans, a black and grey plaid button down and my black boots. Rolling my sleeves up to my elbows, I kept a close eye on Charlie.

I really wanted to know how he'd gotten in. It wasn't like he was a small dog or anything. God, he was the size of a small pony. And I really didn't want to have to deal with Reno if he answered the door either. He'd probably be super pissed and blame me for trying to steal their dog.

"Okay. C'mon, boy. Follow me," I tried to coax him off my bed. He eventually lumbered down and shoved his face into my hand for pets, so I started to head out of the house. I got him to follow me across the path, but then I was faced with the terrifying idea of knocking on their door.

Noticing a doorbell on the side, I rang it a couple of times, hoping that Reno wasn't home. He was bound to murder me for even stepping foot on his property.

"Hello?" an incredibly gorgeous voice floated out of the door as it opened, melting me where I stood. It was followed by an eyeful of that insanely attractive guy I'd seen with Charlie the day before, and _fuck_... He was even more handsome in person.

"Hi... uhm... so I just moved in across the street and, well... I woke up this morning and found your dog in my bed," I quickly explained, rambling nervously as I avoided getting lost in his bright green, enticing eyes.

He lifted and eyebrow, scanning over me before snorting. "Well, at least you're wearing shoes this time."

"This time...? I'm sorry, have we met before?" I looked up at him curiously. No... if we'd met, I would have remembered. ...Right?

"I had a strong feeling that you wouldn't remember," he laughed, the sound just heavenly. "But it doesn't matter. You found him again?"

Again? "I guess so. I mean... I don't know how he's getting into my house. He scared the shit out of me."

He chuckled softly, leaning against the frame of the door. He absolutely towered over me, more than anybody else in town, but for some reason I didn't mind it with him. "There's a dog door on the side door that opens into the kitchen. You might want to block it, or nail it shut."

"Oh! That makes sense," I nodded. "So... did I make a fool out of myself last night?" I grinned sheepishly, running a hand through my hair.

"Hey, it's cool. Parties make me really anxious too. You might have overdone it just a tad on the beer, but they really shouldn't have sprung that on you like they did."

"So... you knew about the party?" I furrowed my brow in confusion, bending down to pet Charlie as he shoved his nose into my hand again.

He shrugged, "People don't even notice me when I come into town. They just chatter on like I'm not there. I guess I just pay attention."

"Well... I'm sorry you didn't get invited. That wasn't nice of them to exclude you guys." _Even though your brother is a psychopath._

"I'm used to it. Our name is mud in this town, and it's been like that since I was a kid. The only reason we're still here is because we have literally nowhere else to go."

I could feel my heart just snapping in half when he explained, feeling like a piece of shit for not inviting him when I saw him before the party. "That's terrible. You know, everybody keeps telling me to hate you guys, but they really won't tell me why. Reno just said we were stealing your business, but... it seems like a lot more than that."

"Isn't it funny how loyal we are to our families even if they might be wrong?" he mused, sighing heavily. "Speaking of which, I really shouldn't be seen talking to you. Reno'll beat both our asses if he finds us."

I straightened back up and frowned, nodding in agreement. "You're right... and God knows I don't want to piss Reno off again. He tried to punch my face in last night."

"Fuck, I'm sorry... He's just got a bad temper," he cringed. "No wonder he was in such a pissy mood last night..."

"It's fine. Hayner stopped him before any damage was done. But I bet now it makes sense why I was drunk, eh?" I joked, chuckling weakly.

He smiled an absolutely perfect smile that made me go weak in the knees, pushing himself away from the door frame and reaching out a hand. "I'm Axel, by the way."

"Roxas," I grinned back, savoring the moment that our hands touched. He was so _warm_ in such an intoxicating way. Holy shit.

"I know," he laughed, "You kind of shouted it at me last night when I mistook you for Ventus."

I facepalmed, blushing madly as I glanced back up at him between my fingers. "It was that bad, huh?"

"You also called Charlie a horse. And muttered something about a British guy wanting to crawl into bed with you?"

My eyes went wide and I almost choked on my own spit. "Oh good Lord... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"You also called me hot," he smirked, crossing his arms over his chest smugly.

"I mean..." I let my eyes travel up and down his body, shrugging.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Oh? So that wasn't the booze talking?"

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't," I flirted a bit, throwing him a sly wink. "See you around, Axel."

I have no idea where this flirtatious animal inside me came from, but I could feel my heart pounding at a million beats a minute while I walked back to my house. I could also feel his eyes burning into me as he watched me walk away. How on Earth could anybody possibly hate him? He was such a nice guy!

There was a lot more to this whole family feud, and I really needed to find out what was going on. I'd have to talk to Ventus alone some time and try to get some answers out of him.

...

 **A/N:** Well that's more like it! God damn it, they're sO FREAKING CUTE. God I adore them. Maybe next chapter we'll get some answers too. ;P

Keep on reviewing guys! Lemme know whatcha think of the new versus the old!

Love ya!

 _Simply Rexene_


	8. Eight

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Eight_

 **A/N:** The farming in this story is using **video game logic.** I have no idea how to actually run a farm, but damned if I don't know how Harvest Moon works. It's just easier for me this way. :P

...

"You know, you're going to have to get up a lot earlier if you're going to run this farm," Hayner laughed, handing me a hoe. He didn't even bother mentioning my drunken escapades the night before. He just got right into his farming lesson with me. "We're going to start you on a smaller field until you get the hang of growing crops, okay?"

"Right..." I nodded, taking the tool from him and looking around. "So... how do I...?"

He snorted, realizing that I really had no fucking idea how to farm. "Alright, I'll give you the basic tutorial. Take the hoe and whack the ground with it to make a hole for the seeds to lay in. It'll till up the ground a little as well, which provides better soil conditions for the plants. Then, you just drop a seed in each hole and cover them back up with some dirt."

"Oh! Okay, lemme try," I nodded, raising the hoe up and weakly smacking the ground with it, barely even moving the top soil.

"Harder than that, Rox. C'mon, really give it a good hit."

I chuckled a little, that sentence reminding me of the first time I'd ever smoked pot in college. "All right. Lemme try again." I lifted it this time and used all my weight to swing the hoe down, breaking the ground and tilling up a decent hole in the ground.

"Perfect!" he nodded, giving me a short round of applause. "Now just drop one of the potato seeds I gave you in there, and kick some dirt back over it."

I did as he said, already working up a sweat. I was really going to have to get used to this sun. And maybe stop dressing in all dark colors. "Awesome. I planted my first crop!"

"Hang on a sec," he laughed, "You're not done yet. You've got to water it too. And then you've got to repeat the process on this whole field. You should be able to get about a 9 by 9 square out of it."

"Nine by..." I trailed off, realizing how huge that really was and how long it would take me. "And... I can just spray them with a hose, right?"

He shook his head, "Nope. You've got to water them with a watering can, or you'll risk drowning the seeds and having them move out of place. Just a short burst of water for each seed, and you've got to water them once a day at the very least. Twice a day on those really scorching hot ones, or times when we haven't had rain for awhile."

I gaped at him, my mind blown by how much work farming actually was. "Holy... shit... that's going to take forever! I'll never get all that done in one day! Not with any time to spare, at least!"

"That would be why we get up at 5 in the morning," he laughed, patting me on the shoulder. "Have fun, buddy. Once you've gotten the hang of crops, I'll teach you how to raise animals."

"Thanks..." I mumbled as he walked away, leaving me with my field. This was going to be absolutely exhausting. I couldn't even imagine taking care of animals on top of it all.

But I had agreed to keep the farm running, so I just moved on, plowing up the field and planting the seeds, then watering them all one by one. By the time I was finished I was drenched in sweat, panting, and sunburnt to hell.

After yet another shower, I decided to head into town and have dinner at the Cafe. I wasn't exactly a master chef like my brother, and I'd been living on takeout in New York for as long as I could remember. Maybe he could teach me how to cook some basic recipes sometime.

"Hey Aqua," I waved her down as I walked into the Cafe. "I know it's kind of odd, but is there any way I can sneak into the kitchen to chat with Ventus for a few?"

"Anybody else, he'd probably throw your ass out," she smirked, "But I'm sure he wouldn't mind seeing you. Go on back, sweetheart."

I pushed my way through the swinging door and found Ven dancing around the kitchen, singing a song to himself and using a can of beans as a maraca. It was absolutely hilarious, and I could understand why he didn't let people in the kitchen with him.

After a couple minutes of watching the show, I finally cleared my throat and stepped into his line of view, effectively scaring the living shit out of him. "Roxas! How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," I laughed, giving him a round of applause. "Anyways, I don't wanna get in your way while you're working, but I was hoping we could talk a little."

"Sure! It's a slow night anyways," he smiled, cleaning his hands off on a rag he had looped through his belt. "Want me to make you a grilled cheese or something?"

My eyes went wide and I nodded quickly, "Oh fuck yes. I'm starving. Hayner taught me how to grow crops today and I have never been so tired before."

"Well get used to it, city boy. You've got to be able to balance all of that, plus animals, plus living a life on top of it. Speaking of which, Monday nights all the Michaels family gets together at Uncle Cloud's for dinner. That's the main reason why the Cafe is closed on Mondays."

"Gotcha. I'm sure Hayner will remind me," I nodded, glad that I'd have somewhere to eat when the Cafe was closed. "But anywho... that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I need to ask you something and I need you to not shut me down immediately."

He lifted an eyebrow curiously. "Sure...?"

"The Flynn family. What the hell is going on between us?" I put it bluntly, leveling my eyes on him.

"Okay, so here's the thing..." he sighed, leaning against the counter. "None of us really know for sure. It's all speculation. Our dad was best friends with Axel and Reno's dad. When we were babies, I guess Dad found him and Mom sleeping together and it destroyed their friendship and started this whole rivalry between our families. We hated them because Dad blamed him for ruining his marriage."

"And what, they hated us just because?"

He frowned, "No... unfortunately, it's a lot deeper than that. Pretty much the entire town resented their dad because he slept with her, and eventually I guess it was just too much for him. Shortly after Mom left town with you, he ...killed himself."

"Holy shit..." I muttered, my mind blown. "So... they hate us because they think we drove their dad to commit suicide? How terrible..."

"I have a feeling that there's a lot more to the story than what we know. Uncle Cloud swears up and down that he knows nothing, but... Mom might. Try asking her sometime."

"Ven... how did Dad die? Mom never really told me," I changed gears, wishing so badly that I could have met him.

He stayed silent for a long moment, and I could tell that he really didn't want to tell me. "Roxas, he killed himself when we were twelve. He had been severely depressed for a long time, and we all tried to help him, but..."

"So... they both committed suicide?" What were the odds of that in such a small town?

"Yeah... I guess so," he shrugged. "It was years apart. We were just babies when the Flynn's dad did it."

"Damn..." I mumbled, feeling uneasy in the pit of my stomach. "Now I understand why Reno wanted to beat the shit out of me."

Ventus rolled his eyes. "He takes it a little far. Beyond all of the stuff with our parents, we've also been fighting for years over business. We've got more manpower and land, and so we get more business than they do. It's just how it is."

"So... what are your feelings on this whole thing? Do you hate the Flynns as much as everyone else?"

"I'm not a huge fan of Reno and his rage issues," he shrugged, returning to his cooking, "And Axel is just kind of a creepy loner."

From the inside, I'm sure that all of this rivalry business made perfect sense. If you've grown up all your life being told to hate the family across the path, you're going to hate them. But from an outsider's perspective, this whole thing was a bunch of bullshit. What happened with our fathers was a horrible tragedy, but it had nothing to do with who we'd grown up to be. ...Right?

...

 **A/N:** Omg I'm so sorry for not updating last night! We were super busy at work and I passed out the second I got home. I'm so glad I could get this one out tonight!

So we finally have a little insight into the feud. But it's definitely not the full story... You guys are going to flip shit when you find out!

Love ya!

 _Simply Rexene_


	9. Nine

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Nine_

I don't think I'd ever gotten up at five a.m. before. Maybe stayed up until five... but my body was not okay with me trying to get up so early. Every fibre of my being was screaming, "Roxas, what the fuck are you doing? We got a good four hours left at least!"

But I did it. I dragged my ass out of bed at fucking five in the morning to start my day. I felt like a zombie as I trudged into the bathroom to take a shower, and my eyes were dry and glued halfway closed. With all the dirt, dust and bugs I'd have to deal with out here, I doubted that I'd be wearing my contacts very often.

No sign of Charlie this morning at least. I'd used some old plywood I found in the barn to blockade the dog door last night before I crashed and burned. Though I had to admit, I did kind of miss the fluffy behemoth. I'd never had a dog growing up, but I've always had a soft spot for them.

I decided to go with a more practical outfit today and chose a red t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts, paired with red Converse. I pretty much only ever wore Converse or combat boots, but the boots were way too warm for farm work. I definitely looked like I belonged in a Target store with a nametag on, but at least I'd be a little cooler outside.

"Roxas! Good to see you out and about!" Hayner called across the fence, waving at me as I began to make my rounds outside. After I filled up my watering can, I started to walk up and down each row, watering each and every god damned little plant one by one... grateful that I didn't have to till up the ground this time. Of course, this was just the beginning. I had a shit ton of other fields that I'd have to eventually plant in and tend for.

It was all going rather well, actually, until I let my guard down for two seconds to wipe my brow off.

"Charlie, get over here!" was all I heard before I was accosted with ten tons of fluff, his massive body knocking me flat on my ass while he drooled all over my face.

Axel came bounding down the path and hopped my fence with incredible grace, trying to pull Charlie off me while I attempted to keep him from frenching me. "Shit, Roxas, I'm sorry! Charlie must really like you," he laughed, finally yanking him aside.

I couldn't stop laughing as I sat up in the dirt, my glasses covered in dog drool and my hair looking like a hot mess. "It's fine, he just caught me off guard is all!"

He reached down and grabbed my hand to pull me to my feet, and I'm glad that he had a good grip on me because his touch alone made my knees weak. "Finally getting the farm going?"

"Slowly but surely," I nodded, cleaning the lenses of my glasses with my t-shirt and accidentally flashing him my abs. I couldn't notice him staring, what with my being blind and all, but when I put them back on he snapped his head up and gave me a sheepish look. "Anyways..." I continued, lifting a brow curiously at him while I spoke, "I never realized how much work it took to run a farm."

"I suppose if you haven't grown up around it, you might think so. I actually find it really fun," he shrugged. "I've been helping Reno run the farm since we were kids, though."

I remembered what happened to his dad and my heart sank. "Right... I guess you guys were thrown into it kind of young, weren't you?"

"Ah... so they finally told you. Look, I was only seven when it happened and I've never blamed anybody for it but my own father. It's an incredibly selfish thing to do, especially when you have a family that depends on you. If anything, I resent him more than anybody else. I know Reno likes to blame your whole family, and maybe he knows more than I do. But... I guess what I'm saying is that I harbor no anger towards you or your family. And even if I was pissed at them, you were an infant when it happened and I can't in any conscience place any blame on you personally."

I stood there in a shocked silence, listening to him ramble on until he finally stopped. "I... am really glad to hear that, actually. Finally, someone makes sense around here. I mean, when Ventus told me about what happened, it just wasn't clicking into place. It just feels like some pieces of the puzzle are missing, right?"

"I stopped trying to figure it out years ago, Roxas... What our dads did was a stupid, selfish thing to do, and we just have to accept that they're gone and move on."

I felt like I'd just gone through an intensive therapy session with this guy, and we barely knew each other. "All right... well... that was by far the most intense conversation I've had since I got here."

Axel blinked a couple of times before busting out laughing, bending over and holding his sides. "Oh... oh my God, I'm such a fucking weirdo. I'm sorry to dump all that on you like that."

Honestly, I was probably the only person he could ever say any of that to. He could never tell his stubborn brother how he really felt, and everybody else in town hated him. God, that was a depressing thought. He had to have felt so alone his entire life. "Axel... any time you want to hang out or something, just let me know," I offered, feeling a surge of bubbly anxiety rush through me.

"Oh," he straightened up, looking down at me curiously. "I'd really like to, Roxas, but you know how it is with our families. They'd be livid if they saw us together. We're lucky Hayner's in the barn right now mucking out stalls."

My heart sank a little and I sighed. "Right..."

"I should go... I don't want to get either of us in trouble. C'mon, Charlie!" he clapped his hands, strolling away. I watched him leave, heavily resisting the urge to run after him. But he was right... I'd just found my family and I didn't want to lose them. ...Even if none of this made sense to me.

"I saw all that."

I screeched as Hayner's voice suddenly came from right behind me, spinning around and whacking him on the arm. "Fuck, Hayner! What the hell are you doing over here?!"

"While you were staring off in your own little world, I hopped the fence. What were you doing with Axel?"

I just shrugged casually. "His dog mauled me. Why does it matter?"

"You don't need to be hanging around with someone like him, Roxas."

"Why? What has he ever done to anybody?" I crossed my arms, narrowing my eyes on him. "What has he _personally_ done to anyone in this town?"

That shut him up for a minute and he just scowled at me. "That whole family is trouble and you know it. Do yourself a favor and stay away from anybody with the Flynn name."

"Or what, you'll all shun me? Murder me and toss me in a ditch to rot?"

"Roxas, you're family. We're going to love you no matter what. I'm more worried about what Axel's family is going to think. Reno is a psychopath, Rox, and he's incredibly overprotective of his brother. Believe me... befriending Axel is a bad decision."

I grumbled, shuffling my feet around as I tried to work up the courage to tell him how attracted I was to Axel... but I couldn't make myself say it. How was I going to come out to my entire family over a guy I could never have?

"Look, I know that you're just trying to be a friendly guy, Roxas, but for your own good? Just stop."

...

 **A/N:** Okay, so in reply to someone's rather heated review, NO. Nobody from the Flynn family is related to ANYbody in the Michaels family. That's definitely not the drama bomb that I'm waiting to drop on you guys. :P But good guess! Haha. (Also, thanks so much for the review!)

I just adore their little moments together... I'm trying so hard to work this in gradually, and it's soooo tough not to just drop it all at once! But I'll resist! To keep you guys on the edge of your seats! :3

Thank you again for reading! I'll see you next time!

 _Simply Rexene_


	10. Ten

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Ten_

After I finished tending the fields I decided to start cleaning out the barn, getting it ready for when I did eventually obtain some animals. The barn had gotten pretty dirty and run down from sitting empty for so long, and it smelled something fierce.

"Hey… Roxas?"

I jumped out of my skin, whacking my head on the top gate of a horse stall as I hopped to my feet in surprise. " _Namine_. You scared me!" I laughed, wiping my hands off on my shorts.

She was standing in the doorway of the barn holding a plate of cookies. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I just… wanted to bring these over for you."

"They smell delicious," I grinned, grabbing one off the plate and taking a big bite out of one. "Oh my God, they're amazing…"

"Thanks! It's Grandma's recipe," she beamed happily, looking proud of herself. "It took me forever to perfect them."

I inhaled the rest of the cookie and laughed, "Well, they're definitely perfect. Thank you so much for bringing them over."

"Well… I kind of came over to invite you to dinner with my family as well. Mom's cooking up something delicious!"

I thought about it for a minute, a little hesistant to agree. Namine was a really nice girl, and I could see her as a good friend, but this whole setup was making things incredibly awkward.

"Uhm… that sounds nice, I guess. I just need to clean up a little," I eventually nodded, not wanting her to feel bad if I said no.

"Okay! I can wait out here if you wanted to walk together," she smiled warmly, handing me the plate.

I chuckled and waved for her to follow me. "C'mon. You can wait inside. I'm not going to make you stand out here in the hot sun."

"It is a little bit hot out," she blushed, following me inside and sitting down on the couch. "Take your time!"

"I won't be long," I told her, heading upstairs to change my shirt and clean my face a bit with some cool water. In a few minutes I came back down and we headed out.

But just as I walked out the front door with her, I made eye contact with Axel, who was standing on his front porch with Charlie sitting next to him. He looked …confused, like he didn't know why I'd be with her alone in my house.

Charlie perked up when he saw me and came bounding down the path like a nut, plowing into me and slurping my entire hand up into his mouth.

Namine squealed and bent down to pet him, rambling on about how cute he was. "Ooh, what a sweet doggie! He's so big and fluffy!"

Axel chuckled and walked across the path, shrugging his shoulders. "He really seems to like Roxas. I can't keep him away from here."

She giggled and hugged Charlie while I looked up at Axel. "It's okay. He's fun to have around."

"What're you guys up to?" he asked casually, shoving his hands in his pockets while he waited for an answer.

"Oh! We were just headed to dinner," Namine answered before I could even open my mouth, rolling around in the grass with Charlie while he licked her face.

Axel's face fell and he nodded, "I see. Well have fun, guys. I'll try to keep Charlie from trailing you."

"Ooh, I'd happily steal him from you," she joked, trying to pull herself back to her feet. I reached down and gave her a hand, lifting her up and out of Charlie's reach. "He is just too cute!"

"Yeah, he's pretty awesome," Axel smiled, summoning Charlie to his side with a snap of his fingers. "Enjoy dinner, you two."

Before I managed to think of something to say back, he was already walking into his house with Charlie on his heels.

"Aww," Namine cooed, straightening herself back out. "I never knew Axel had a doggie!"

"You must not come out this way too often, huh?" I chuckled, starting to head down the path into town.

She shook her head, blushing a little. "No, not really… I've never had a reason to before, besides Hayner and Olette's wedding."

"So I take it you guys aren't fans of the Flynn family either?"

"Well, we were too little to really know what happened… I've never had anything against Axel, but Reno can really be a jerk to everyone. He's got a very short fuse."

I nodded, "That's the general consensus I've been getting from people. I'm just curious about it, I guess."

"I've always stayed out of it, but there seems to be a pretty big rivalry between the farms. I think that Reno is just afraid that he won't be able to take care of his brother. He cares about him so much."

It was kind of cute that even though Axel was a 32 year old man, his brother still felt the need to worry about him. "So… why does their farm struggle? Do you know?"

"They just don't have enough land. If you combine Hayner's farm with yours, you guys have acres to work with. Hayner's got three big barns and two chicken coops on his property alone, plus a ton of fields to plant in. They only have a couple of fields in the back and one small barn and a coop. There isn't enough space for them to up the amount of products they can sell. And your grandfather's farm has more room than you'll ever know what to do with. That plot of land has been in your family for generations. Mom says that before Mr. Flynn passed away, he'd been trying to buy some of the excess land from your grandfather and he wouldn't sell."

So far, Namine had been the most forthcoming with information on the whole ordeal and I was very grateful for it. I already had a plan mulling through my mind. "I can see why Reno would be salty about it, then. Not that it gives him an excuse to be such a dick, but…"

"Wait, where is everyone?" Namine looked confused as we walked into the hotel and upstairs to their living space. "Mom? Kairi? Xion?"

I could smell dinner, but the kitchen and dining room were empty. "Where would they have gone?"

She pulled a note off the refridgerator and sighed, thrusting it at me after reading it. "They all conveniently ended up having plans. Of course."

"What?" I read the note, confused.

"I knew they were going to do this… ugh!" she sat down at the dinner table. "They tricked us into having dinner alone together."

I sat down across from her and sighed. "Look, Namine… I'm just really not looking to date anybody right now. I mean, I just got here. It's not that you're-"

"Roxas," she cut me off, "I'm not interested either. Not in dating you, at least. You don't have to worry about it. I don't know what possessed our families to try and push us together like that, but I've only ever wanted to be your friend."

"Oh," I sat back in shock, incredibly glad to hear that. "Well… that makes things a lot easier."

She giggled softly, "And it has nothing to do with you either. I just happen to have feelings for someone else."

"Oooh," I sang, teasing her a little, "And who does Namine have a crush on?"

"Your cousin, Van," she mumbled, blushing deeply. "But don't tell anybody!"

" _Vanitas?_ " I howled in laughter, almost falling out of my chair. "Ohh, that's… that's amazing… You two could not be any more polar opposite!"

She leaned over and whacked me on the arm, huffing. "Shut up! That's why I like him! He's different…"

"Yes, he does have that serial killer-esque charm about him," I snorted, laughing so hard my eyes were watering.

"He's a very sweet guy deep down! I've seen it before!" she defended him, crossing her arms over her chest. "When we were kids, he rescued a hurt bunny from the woods and took care of it until it was better."

I eyeballed her curiously, "And you've been in love with him since?"

"No!" she squawked a little too loudly. "I mean… maybe…"

"Sooo why haven't you told him, silly?"

Her eyes went wide and she shook her head quickly. "I can't! I know for a fact that my sisters would never approve. And besides, he'd never go for me anyways…"

"One, who gives a shit what your sisters think? Two, you're never going to know unless you _tell him_. So… do that."

"But-"

" _Do it_ ," I stressed, standing up and moving over to the oven. "In the meantime, this food smells amazing. We might as well eat it since they left it for us."

She smiled and perked up a little, getting up to help me. "It's nice to see you acting like yourself. I'm sorry that we sprung that party on you."

"Don't worry about it," I shrugged, pulling some plates out of the cupboard. "I'm just bad at socializing."

"It'll get easier once you know everybody a little better. We're all pretty much strangers to you right now; even your family."

"Well… I know that I'll at least have one friend no matter what," I smiled, poking her in the side. "And I'm not going to rest until you've confessed your love to Vanitas."

She snarled and poked me back. "You can't tell anybody! Not until I've talked to him."

"I would never! It'll be our little secret," I promised, putting my hand over my heart. "And just so that you have a secret to hoard over _me_ as blackmail… I'll tell you what I've been hiding from everyone."

"Oh? I'm listening," she raised an eyebrow.

"Well… the real reason that I would never date you is actually pretty simple. I'm gay."

…..

 **A/N:** Oh noooo! I didn't update last night! …But hopefully this chapter made up for it. I was just so tired after work, and then we saw Suicide Squad and I was too excited to write! Anyways, sorry! I'll try my extra super hardest to get a chapter out tomorrow too, but I have a lot planned. But hey, every other day is pretty good too, right? _Right?_

Thank you so much to everyone that's been reviewing! I love it!

Buh bye! Love ya!

 _Simply Rexene_


	11. Eleven

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Eleven_

"Oh." Namine blinked a couple of times and I could see the shock setting in as she took in what I'd said.

"Yeah," I laughed, bringing my plate over to the table and sitting down. "So it really has nothing to do with you at all.

She sat down across from me, and she was so quiet for awhile that I was starting to worry that she might not be okay with it. But finally she cracked a smile and giggled, "Aww, that's so adorable! Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Well no, not really… But I do have a bit of a crush on someone," I admitted, blushing lightly.

"Oh my gosh, who? Someone here in town? …Wait, is anybody else gay? I don't think they are," she rambled quickly, bouncing from thought to thought.

I shrugged, "I'm not really sure if he is or not. I'm getting that vibe from him, but…"

"But what? You should ask him! Ooohh, tell me who!"

"Well, see… I don't think it could ever work anyways…" I danced around the answer, a little reluctant to tell her.

Her brain went into overload as she tried to figure it out, and I knew that she had when her eyes suddenly went super wide. "Ohhhh no. No, Roxas, you can _not_ like Reno's brother. He'll murder you if you go anywhere near Axel!"

"Exactly," I frowned. "Which is why I'm not even going to bother asking. And besides, I don't even know if I actually like him. I just find him attractive."

She huffed angrily, dropping her fork. "That's not fair! You should at least be able to get to know him! You guys deserve to be happy!"

"Yeah, well… life isn't fair sometimes. Maybe I should just take Luxord up on his offer…" I grumbled, feeling a little down.

"Offer? What did Luxord offer you?"

I cringed, wishing that I hadn't mentioned it to her. "He… well, he said that if I ever wanted to have some fun…"

"Oh my God! Luxord is gay too?!" she screeched, and I was thoroughly glad that we were alone. "Eww, and he offered… _that_? He's so old!"

"I've always liked older men…" I looked at her sheepishly. "And don't tell anybody else! I shouldn't have even mentioned it to you."

She rolled her eyes, "I won't tell anyone… But are you seriously thinking about taking him up on that? I mean, you like _Axel_."

"But I could never _be_ with Axel," I reminded her. "We literally just went over this. And I mean... I like sex. It's fun. So why not?"

She shivered, making a disgusted face. "Gross… You and Axel would be so adorable together! You and Luxord… that's just icky."

"Whatever. He probably wasn't serious anyways. I'm not gonna worry about it," I sighed, picking at my dinner.

"Don't let me keep you from exploring your options, Rox. Luxord's at least a pretty nice guy. I just wish that there was some way you could try with Axel…"

I shrugged, "No use worrying about the what ifs in life. Now I think we need to focus on what we _can_ do here, and that's getting you and Van together."

"Oh… it's so silly of me to even hope that he'd like me… You were right, we're polar opposites."

"Nope, I don't accept that. We're gonna find out one way or another. In fact, I'm going to do some snooping next time I see them."

She blushed and looked down at her plate, nodding. "Okay… I guess if you wanna…"

"Oh, I will. And don't you let your sisters try and cover up your feelings for him." She fell silent for a long time and I looked over at her curiously, wondering what was wrong. "Nami?"

"It's funny," she met my eyes and smiled warmly, "I've never really had a close friend out here. I've got my sisters, yeah, but it's different. I feel like I can trust you with all of my secrets and that you'll be honest with me. It's nice."

I chuckled, reaching across the table and grabbing her hand. "That's what it's like to have a best friend. But we've got to stop all this nonsense with our families trying to set us up. Obviously we're not the perfect match they all think."

"Right… I'll talk to my family and let them know that I'm not interested and neither are you."

"I do plan on telling everyone that I'm gay, by the way. I just need a little time to work myself up to it, I guess."

She stood up to gather our empty plates and nodded. "I totally understand, and I promise that I won't tell anybody about you or about Luxord. That's absolutely none of my business."

"Thanks," I grinned, standing up and yanking her into a hug. "I'm so glad I have a friend like you now, Namine. It makes all of this a lot easier."

She squeaked as I practically crushed her spine, squirming to get out of my tight grasp. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Jeez, you're such a twig!" I laughed, letting her go. "Do you even have a ribcage?"

She burst into a fit of giggles and whacked me on the shoulder. "Ohh, hush! Let's talk about how deceptively strong you are!"

"I used to work out," I poked her in the side, grabbing a rag to help her with the dishes. "But hey, Van is a skinny beanpole too, so maybe you two _are_ perfect for each other!"

"He's also about a foot and a half taller than me," she pointed out, which was true. Even I was considerably taller than her, and I was pretty short for a guy.

"It'd be kinda cute, though! You'd have to run alongside him whenever you walked anywhere together," I teased her.

She just rolled her eyes and whipped me with her dishrag, ignoring my comment.

While we cleaned up the kitchen together, I couldn't keep a goofy smile off my face. I'd been really worried about making friends here that weren't part of the family, and now I pretty much had a best friend completely by accident. I was actually a bit grateful that they'd tried to set us up together, or I might never have realized what a good friend she could be.

"All right, well I should head home. Thanks for having me over. I think this might have been the best thing to happen since I got here," I pulled her into another, less bone-crushing hug.

"Now don't you go crawling into Luxy's bed on the way home," she warned me, giggling. "But if you find yourself in Axel's, that's okay."

I smirked, ruffling up her hair. "You're ridiculous. It's not gonna happen. Now go profess your love to my cousin."

I could hear her laughing as I walked downstairs and headed home, feeling really good about that night. At least I had someone I could talk to without all the family bias involved.

Strolling down the path home, the first thing I noticed was that Axel was still on his front porch. He was sitting on the porch swing reading a book, but he saw me almost immediately as I came into view and straightened up, setting it aside.

"Hey," I waved to him, fully intending on continuing over to my house, even though it was taking all of my willpower not to stop and talk to him.

But he actually ran down off the porch and caught me, sprinting to catch up with me. "Hey, Roxas?"

"What's up?" I stopped and turned to face him, petting Charlie as he shoved his snout into my hand.

"Are you and Namine… a thing? Like are you dating?" he asked, trying to act casual when I could tell he'd been worrying about it.

I laughed, shaking my head. "Not at all. She's not exactly my type."

"Oh… okay, 'cause it seemed like you guys were together or something," he muttered, kicking at the dirt.

"When I say she's not my type, I mean that women in general aren't my type," I dropped the hint and waited for him to take it.

It took him a minute before his face lit up and he smiled this dopey little half smile that was absolutely adorable. "Well… good night, Roxas."

"Night," I grinned, heading towards my house. It made me really happy that he was worried about that, and it was confirming my suspicions that he was feeling the same things I was.

Of course, it didn't really make a different when his sociopathic brother was constantly watching him. There was no way I was going to risk the wrath of Reno over a crush.

…..

 **A/N:** For some reason this chapter took me awhile to get through… But aww! I love cute little romances and adorable friendships! ^^ And isn't it absolutely adorable that Axel was all worried? TOO CUTE.

Also, your reviews are not annoying at all! I love them! Please feel free to review every chapter if you want. I love hearing what you're thinking as the story progresses. Next chapter, get ready for a pretty incredible scene. I am the MOST excited to write it.

Love you all!

 _Simply Rexene_


	12. Twelve

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Twelve_

It had been about two weeks since I moved in, and life was going pretty smoothly. Namine and I would hang out pretty often and I had intel from Sora that Van was totally into her as well, so I was just devising a plan to get the two of them alone together.

Work on the farm was still pretty difficult, but I'd moved into a couple of other fields and branched out the variety of crops I was growing. Hayner was even in the works of getting me a cow and a couple of chickens.

Things on the Axel front had cooled down, and I'm pretty sure it's because he realized as much as I did that Reno would never, ever approve of it.

…Which was part of the reason that I found myself at the bar tonight. I needed a drink; and some wings wouldn't hurt either.

"Yo, Roxas! I was wondering when you'd finally stop by," Riku grinned at me from behind the bar, waving me over to him.

"How's it going?" I asked, taking a seat at a barstool and pulling a menu over.

He shrugged, "Same old, same old. How goes the farm?"

"It's going," I chuckled, "Slowly and painfully. But I do have some sprouts coming up now, so it doesn't feel like I'm getting absolutely nowhere anymore."

"It'll only get easier," he laughed, patting me on the shoulder. "So what can I get you?"

I set the menu aside and looked him straight in the eye. "I want the hottest wings you can manage. Can you handle that request?"

"Ohh, you just wrote your own death sentence," an evil glimmer caught his eye. "Just you wait, Roxas. You're gonna wish you hadn't challenged me."

He disappeared into the kitchen and Xion sauntered over. "Can I get you a drink, darlin?"

"Jack and coke, please?" I smiled at her, needing a little buzz to cut the depression of this whole thing with Axel.

"And put that on my tab, Xion," a smooth British voice washed over me and I turned around in my stool to face none other than Luxord.

I gave him an awkward smile. "You don't have to do that… Seriously."

He smirked in an overly flirtatious way and nodded towards a table in the back. "You can repay me by keeping me some company."

"I… well…"

"I'll bring your drinks to the table. Whiskey neat, Luxord?" Xion answered for me before I could back out.

"You know me so well, love," he flashed her a handsome smile and headed for his table.

I reluctantly followed him, wondering why he would so openly flirt with me in front of her. So far as anybody in town knew, we were both straight men. "So… did you need something?"

"I just wanted to get to know you a bit better," he shrugged casually, but I could tell that something else was up.

"Oh… well, okay," I mumbled, keeping my guard raised. "What'd you wanna know?"

He rolled his eyes, "You really are bad at socializing… I'm not gonna have you fill out a questionaire, Roxas. I was hoping we could have a conversation."

Xion set our drinks on the table, throwing us a suspicious look before walking away while I tried to figure out what to say to Luxord. "Right… I'm not good at those."

"Well, I'll start then. Since I already know where you grew up, I'll give you some of my background."

"Sounds good," I sipped on my drink and relaxed a little. I was good at listening to other people talk. I could listen for days. It was the responding part that got me.

"Right… so I'm from London originally, which you likely could have guessed. My family moved us out to Ohio when I was 16 years old because my father found a job in Cleveland. That's when I met my ex-wife. Right before we graduated high school, she told me she was pregnant with Larxene. And before you ask, no I didn't realize at that point that I was gay. Anyways… we had the baby, got married… I went to barbering school and became a barber in just a few months while she was in night school to become a nurse for a few years. It was rough, and eventually we just grew apart. So at 23 years old, I was already a divorced parent of a 5 year old, _and_ I was starting to wonder if I was gay."

He paused for a moment as I tried to absorb all the information. "So… how did you guys end up here?"

"A few years ago I had an uncle that was living out here and wanted to retire and be with his kids out in Virginia, so he asked if anybody in the family wanted to take over for him. I wasn't interested, mainly because I didn't want to take Larxene away from her mother. But then… Nina was in a car accident and passed away."

"Oh shit," I mumbled, my eyes widening. He certainly had a rough life before he came out here.

He shrugged, "After that, it just felt right to come out here and get away from it all. And I'm glad that I did. She loves it here, and nobody judges us. The downside is that right after I finally figured out my sexuality, we moved somewhere that had nobody I could date."

I chuckled a little, "Aww… that's rough. I'm so glad that I figured all of that out early on. I've known since I was a kid that I was gay. I got a lot of shit for it all through grade school, but once I got into college it was like I'd entered a world where nobody gave a fuck. It was wonderful. So I guess that's pretty much my story. I went to college for journalism, graduated when I was 22, worked a lot of shit jobs for awhile before I got hired at the New York Times. But when I found out that the land out here was up for grabs… I couldn't turn down an opportunity to get to know my family."

"How old were you when you found out about Ventus?"

"Let's see… I think I was about ten or so. Mom waited to tell me until I was old enough to at least somewhat understand. But ever since then I wanted to come meet everyone. Of course, then we heard about Dad, and… I couldn't bring myself to visit. Mom begged me for years to come out here and finally, when I heard about Hayner's wedding, I caved. Little did I know that they would mind-fuck me into staying…"

Luxord let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah, that's Hayner for ya. Kid could've been a psychologist with how easily he gets into people's brains."

"All right, Roxas. The hottest wings you'll ever try," Riku approached us, holding a basket of wings at arms length in front of him. "Damned things keep making my eyes water."

"Are you insane?" Luxord's eyes widened as Riku set them down in front of me. "You'll melt off all your tastebuds!"

I laughed devilishly, staring down at the plate of hell in front of me. "Already been done, Lux. There wasn't a dare I wouldn't pass up in college. Eventually I got used to the heat, and now I can't really taste anything else."

"It's your heartburn," he held his hands up in defense, wanting nothing to do with them.

"Eh. I've never gotten it," I shrugged, tearing into one as they both watched me in horror.

Riku looked shocked. "I think… they're melting through the basket…"

"Lets get some refills on our drinks, eh?" Luxord asked him, shooting me worried looks.

I just chowed down, feeling my sinuses clear up and my lips chap immediately. They were delicious, even if most of the taste was numb on my tongue. "Fuck, these are good…" I muttered, glad that they were up to my normal standards. Luxord just watched me the whole time with this amused grin on his lips.

About fifteen wings and two drinks later, I was really feeling buzzed. I wasn't nearly as drunk as that first night I was here, but I was tipsy enough to let my guard down.

"Roxas."

I looked up to find Luxord's eyes burning into me from across the table. "What?"

"Can I walk you home?" he offered, his intense gaze implying something more than that.

"Mmmkay," I grinned, standing up a little too quickly and swaying on my feet. "I promise, I'm okay."

He chuckled and grabbed onto my arm, nearly dragging me out of the Bar at a sprint. "C'mon."

"Whoa, slow down!" I yelped, hardly able to keep up with his long legs.

"Hush," he barked over his shoulder, pulling me down the path towards my house quickly.

By the time we got to my front door I yanked my arm away from him and gave him a confused look. "Luxord, what the hell?!"

"I wanted to get out of town so I could do this," he told me, grabbing me around the waist and yanking me into a rough kiss.

I let out this weird squawk of surprise, nearly biting my own tongue off as he smashed his lips against mine. But he wasn't going to let up, so once I got over the shock of it I kissed him back, letting him push my back against the front door.

"So… can I come in?" he whispered gruffly in my ear, giving me less than a second to answer before locking me back in another hard kiss.

I squeaked out a "yes," even though I was absolutely terrified. It'd been a long time since I'd been with someone, but my body was telling me that I wanted it just as bad.

Right as he opened the door and pushed me inside, my eyes snapped up across the path to see Axel standing on his front porch staring at me in absolute shock and wonder. We locked eyes for a short moment before Luxord slammed the door shut and mauled me again. I knew that was why he wanted to talk at the bar; he was clearly horny as fuck.

An hour later I was still bent over the arm of the couch, covered in cum and left completely alone. My brain could not even process what the _fuck_ had just happened.

…..

 **A/N:** I… I can't even…


	13. Thirteen

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Thirteen_

 _ **FROM AXEL**_ _ **'S POV**_

It was 4 in the morning and I was already up and pacing around my bedroom like a madman. I could hardly sleep; all I could think about was Roxas and Luxord. It's not like I had any kind of claim on Roxas… and I did know that, deep down, but the thought of the two of them together made me sick. I was a jealous mess, and it was all over a guy that I knew I couldn't have.

Last time Reno saw me talking to Roxas, he warned me that he'd kick both our asses if he saw us together again. But I was drawn to the kid like a magnet-I couldn't help myself. Ever since that night that he showed up at our door drunk out of his mind and calling Charlie a horse, I couldn't get him out of my head. I _never_ thought I'd find somebody out here that would make me feel like this, much less someone that might be interested as well. And I definitely got that vibe from him.

"Charlie, c'mon," I called him down off my bed and snuck past Reno's room while he was still asleep. I knew that what I was about to do was insane and irrational, but I couldn't stop my feet from taking me out the front door.

I crept over to the side door of his house with Charlie close on my heels, mentally kicking myself for letting this affect me so much. I knew that he often forgot about the kitchen door and wouldn't lock it, so I carefully turned the knob and pushed it open just enough for Charlie to get in. "All right… go on, Charlie. Go see Roxas," I whispered, closing the door behind him.

Sneaking back into my house, I hoped beyond all hope that Roxas would come right over to return Charlie so that I'd have an excuse to talk to him. It was terrible and devious of me, and I didn't even know what I'd say to him if he did come over. But I needed to see him. So I waited.

But 5 o'clock came and went, and Reno was already outside in the barn taking care of the animals and still no sign of Roxas. Charlie couldn't have gotten out of his house alone, so he must not have woken up yet.

When 6 o'clock passed, I was literally going out of my mind. I was pacing back and forth in the front hallway of the house like a caged animal, waiting and waiting to hear a knock on the door.

Another hour went by and I must have looked like absolute hell. I was obsessing over every detail of what could have possibly happened last night, and I was on my last nerve. I had to know.

I stormed across the path, pounding on Roxas' door loudly enough to hopefully wake him up. I could hear Charlie barking, and a couple of minutes later the door opened and Roxas glanced up at me looking completely worn down and out of it. "Axel?"

"Roxas," I whispered, taking in the sight of him. All he had on was a pair of flannel pajama pants and his hair was all matted down and tangled. He had huge bags under his eyes and a giant bruise that looked suspiciously like a hickey on the side of his neck. "Uhm. Right. Have you seen Charlie?" I feigned innocence, trying not to get lost in his naked upper body.

"He's here," he mumbled sleepily, gesturing into the living room.

I kind of invited myself in, pushing past him into the house and closing the door behind me. "I'm sorry he keeps breaking in… I have no idea how he got in this time."

"It's cool," he shrugged, collapsing onto the recliner in the corner and curling up into a ball.

"Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry," I apologized, feeling bad for pulling him out of what looked like a much needed sleep.

He shook his head. "I'm hungover."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, maybe a little too excited to hear that. "So you were drinking last night, huh?"

"Just a little. Whiskey always gives me a headache," he muttered softly, cringing at my exclamation.

I tried to contain myself, glad that this whole thing might have been a drunken mistake. "I can get you some water if you need it," I offered, jerking my thumb towards the kitchen.

"Thanks," he nodded, kicking the feet of the chair up and curling up even more tightly.

I rifled through the kitchen until I found a drinking glass and brought him some cold water, taking the opportunity to sit down on the couch and pry a little more. "So… are you and Luxord a thing now?"

He nearly choked on the water, his eyes widening. "Fuckno."

I had to slap a hand over my mouth to hide my grin. "Oh? I thought I saw you two… Maybe I was mistaken."

"No, you did. It's kind of a fuckbuddy situation at the moment," he shrugged again, yawning loudly. "Seeing as we're the only two gay guys in this godforsaken town, he proposed that we have some fun. And so we did."

My heart sank into my stomach and I ran a hand through my mess of hair. "Oh. I get it. But… you aren't interested in him romantically or anything?"

"Who cares? The only thing he seems interested in is staring at the back of my head," he grumbled, rubbing his neck where the bruise was. "Thefuck?"

"You've got a bit of a hickey going…" I cringed, feeling increasingly awkward for being there. If he hadn't been half asleep and hungover, he probably would have thrown me out by now.

He groaned loudly in irritation and thumped his head back against the chair. "Great. Something to remember him by."

"You… don't seem too thrilled about the whole thing."

"Whatever… it was fun enough. Might as well," he grunted coldly, chugging down the rest of his water. "Anyways, you can take Charlie. I'll try to figure out how he's getting in later."

I stood up and lingered for a moment, really wanting to say more. But I bit my tongue and called Charlie over, heading for the door. "I'll… see you around."

Going about my day after that morning was incredibly difficult. I was at war with myself over the whole situation, and I was starting to resent my brother more and more for driving this stupid wedge between us. Even as I did all my chores, my eyes were glued on Roxas' farm. He did eventually drag his ass outside and get some things done, but he was like a walking zombie for most of the morning.

I lost track of him in the afternoon because Reno decided to glue himself to me until dinner, getting on my ass about starting my work so late.

But apparently I needed more stress in my life, because just as I was winding down for the night to get some sleep, I looked out my bedroom window and saw Luxord knocking on Roxas' door. I couldn't fucking believe it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I roared, scaring the ever living shit out of Charlie so much that he rolled right off my bed.

I suctioned myself to the window and watched like a stalker as Roxas answered the door and let him in. Maybe Roxas was just going to tell him to fuck off… maybe he'd end it.

But then I saw his bedroom light flick on and a pair of shadows moving about and I lost my damned mind. A jealous rage washed over me and I became this crazy, irrational monster that didn't care about any kind of consequences.

I thanked God that Reno was down at the bar so that I could easily make my way across the path with Charlie. If anything could ruin their night, it'd be a huge ass dog interrupting them. So I let him in the side door again and rushed back over to the front porch, taking a seat at the porch swing and grabbing my book to try and look casual.

And I waited.

…..

 **A/N:** I couldn't think of a better way to write that chapter but Axel's POV, and I'm glad I did sneak it in there. I might sprinkle more of it in as we go along. I love jealous bitch Axel. ^^ So cute.

TWO updates in one night! Yay! I have the next couple chapters all planned out so they've been easy to write.

Pleaseeee keep reviewing and letting me know what you think! It's starting to get goooood. :3

Love you guys!

 _Simply Rexene_


	14. Fourteen

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Fourteen_

 _ **FROM AXEL**_ _ **'S POV**_

I hated that it was nearly a half hour before I saw any reaction from them. Luxord came waltzing out of the house looking like a smug bastard and just headed on home like nothing had even happened. Part of me wanted to run him down and beat the content look off his face, but I kept my ass glued to the porch swing to wait for Roxas.

He came flying out of the house moments later, Charlie close on his heels as he stormed across the path and right up onto the porch to confront me. My heart leapt into my throat as he got closer to me, and it took every ounce of willpower I had to stop myself from jumping him right then and there.

"Axel, keep your fucking dog out of my house," he spat vehemently, pushing Charlie towards me.

"Bad night?" I played dumb, wondering what happened to make him so angry.

He leveled his baby blue eyes on me, sneering furiously. "You know damn well. Because of you and your fucking dog I got used tonight, and I'm really not up for being someone's fuckdoll just because they're pissed off."

"I had no idea that Charlie got in again," I shrugged, finding some kind of odd satisfaction in his rage. "I've been out here calling for him all night."

"Right, like you had no idea that he was ruining my evening," he rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and staring me down.

I just shrugged again, "I don't know what to tell you. And by the way, second night in a row? Was it really that good? 'Cause he kind of sounds like a dick to me."

"I'm not fucking stupid, Axel! I saw you watching us! I know you let Charlie in! What the hell kind of game are you playing with me?"

I stood up, realizing that it was time to come clean. "Roxas, I… I can't keep you off of my mind. And I'm sorry that I ruined your night, but I just got so _jealous_ …"

"Jealous of what? I don't belong to you, Axel."

I advanced on him, trying to get face to face with him, but every time I took a step towards him, he backed up across the porch. "Why are you running away from me?"

"Because… we can't be together, Axel. It can never happen. Not even if we wished on every star," he told me, continuing to step away from me until his back thumped against the railing and stopped him.

I closed the distance between us quickly, crowding him so that he couldn't run away. "Why? Why can't we at least try?"

"Because your brother is a homicidal maniac who'll actually kill me if I so much as look in your direction?" he offered, turning his head so that he wouldn't have to look me in the eye.

But I needed him to look me in the eye. I was beginning to feel that craze of emotion again, so I gripped him by his jaw and forced him to meet my eyes. "I can handle my brother, Roxas. Please, I just… I need to know if this is real…"

He fought my grip, growling lowly as he slapped my hand away from him. "I'd love to know too, but I'm not going to risk my safety, or the safety of my family, over a few passing glances and a couple awkward conversations."

"You can't seriously tell me that you don't feel this, Roxas. I've seen how you look at me… there's got to be something there," my voice grew desperate as I kept him pinned against the railing.

"I'm sorry, Axel, but it's just not worth it," he finally muttered, staring down at the ground.

I just couldn't accept it. I needed him to want it just as badly as I did. So… I did the one thing that he couldn't ignore. I grabbed his face and yanked him up into a deep, crazy, intense kiss. One that lit my entire being on fire.

 _ **FROM ROXAS' POV**_

How the fuck could I keep lying to myself and saying it wasn't worth it when Axel was going to go and do things like that?! When I say that that kiss knocked the fucking breath out of me, I mean that I very nearly fell to my knees right that fucking minute. Had he not kept his lips locked with mine, I would have likely passed out cold.

When he finally pulled away it took me a long time to catch my breath and process what the fuck had just happened. "Axel…"

He looked like his brain was about to spontaneously combust, and he kept a tight grip on my face while he tried to understand it all.

"Axel, I need to go…" my voice shook as I spoke, while he just stared at me in shock. "Axel…"

"What in the hell are you doing on my property?!" an enraged voice echoed through the night air.

Axel sprung off me like I'd electrocuted him, putting a good ten feet between us as his brother stormed onto the porch looking like a rabid wolf.

Before I could even get three words in edgewise, Reno had me pushed halfway over the railing of the porch, dangling me over the rosebushes with a ball of my shirt in his fist. "What in the _hell_ are you doing here, Michaels?"

"I was returning Charlie," I stammered, waiting for Axel to jump in and help me. 'Cause after a kiss like that… he would help me, right?

"And why the fuck would you have our dog? Huh?"

I yelped as he bent my spine further over the railing, moving his hand up to grip me around my throat. "I don't know! He breaks into my house!" _Anytime, Axel…_

"Bullshit! You're using him to worm your way into our lives! What, you're going to take away what little we have left? Steal all of our business, drive us out of town?!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" I shouted, trying to push my weight back up and regain my footing. He was so much stronger than me, and I was starting to get light headed. "Axel! Help me!"

"Get in the fucking house, Axel," Reno commanded, tightening his grip on my throat.

Instead of objecting and rushing to my aid like I thought he would, Axel immediately opened the door and disappeared inside, leaving me to deal with whatever Reno had in store for me.

"You stay off my property and away from my brother, or I _will_ murder you," he growled, turning and throwing me across the porch so hard that I crashed into the porch swing, feeling one of the screws slice my leg open.

"You're a fucking psychopath," I spat at him, picking myself up off the ground and stumbling down the porch steps. "And tell your useless brother that I never want to see him again."

I made my way back to my house before he could fuck me up any further, my back aching like hell, my throat sore and hoarse and blood running down my leg into my shoe.

Any of the feelings that I felt when he kissed me were gone. If he couldn't stand up to his own brother to keep me safe, I wanted nothing to do with him.

…..

 **A/N:** Fuck, guys… I'm sorry I disappeared for so long. We had a lot of shit go down in our family this past week, plus I moved in with my sister. But I have good news! All the bullshit I just experienced is going to turn into a fanfiction here soon. But I wanted to get another chapter out for you.

Hopefully the dramatic impact of this chapter makes up for it. ;P Get ready for an epic roller coaster ride, folks.

Love you all! Remember to review for me!

 _Simply Rexene_


	15. Fifteen

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Fifteen_

Either Axel had been read the riot act from his brother, or he just realized how pissed I was because he was avoiding me like the plague for the next few days. He was probably still keeping an eye on me from afar, but even Luxord showing up at my house every night hadn't riled him up at all. My Charlie sightings had also mysteriously stopped, which definitely solidified my theory that Axel had been letting him into my house.

Luxord was becoming a huge pain in the ass, though. …Literally. His sexual appetite was a lot more than I could handle, especially when every time he finished, he'd just get up and leave regardless of whether I had or not. And if that wasn't bad enough, he had me riddled with hickeys all up and down both sides of my neck. Hell, I'd had to borrow some makeup from Namine just to hide them. I was all for rough sex, but I didn't need constant reminders of it like big flashing beacons to alert the town that I was getting some. Plus they hurt like a bitch when they started to bruise.

My farm was actually doing pretty well now that I didn't have Axel distracting me by wandering around outside looking gorgeous. Now instead I had Reno glaring at me all the time from the fields. Axel must've switched over to barn duty to stay away from me, and I was okay with it. I was still sore from that night that he should have defended me.

It was around one or so on a Thursday afternoon when I finished my chores and decided to head into town and grab lunch with Namine. I stopped by the hotel to grab her when I saw none other than Axel himself leaving the building. He brushed right by me on the front porch, avoiding eye contact and staying silent. Curious, I walked in to find Namine behind the front desk shoving something into the pocket of her jeans.

"So… you gonna tell me, or am I gonna have to pat you down?" I raised an eyebrow, looking her over suspiciously.

"Roxas! D-did you want to get lunch or something?" she fiddled with her shirt nervously, not wanting to make eye contact with me either.

I cleared my throat, stepping closer to her. "Namine, I will undress you if I have to. What did he give you?"

She sighed, pulling out a folded up piece of paper and handing it to me. "After the shit he pulled, he's got a lot of balls trying to contact you. I seriously considered just throwing this away."

"He wrote me a note…?" I wondered as I unfolded it, finding the precise way he lined up all the edges kind of cute.

"Yeah… he wants you to meet him at the lake tonight at 8 o'clock to talk. Are you gonna go?"

I shrugged, scanning over the chicken scratch handwriting on the note, noticing how carefully he tried to make all the words legible. "I honestly don't know. Do you think he'll apologize?"

"Does it even matter? He let you get your ass handed to you without even saying a word! I think you should just be done with him," she flipped her hair over her shoulder, stepping out from behind the counter.

"Namine, you were the one squawking about how cute we'd be together and how you wished we could have a chance. You really don't think I should go?" I motioned for her to follow me over to the Cafe so we could eat while we talked. After my morning's work I was starving.

She fell into step beside me and sighed. "I don't know… Do you really like him? Do you think it's worth dealing with Reno?"

"I'm not really sure. I mean, that kiss… holy shit, I've never felt anything like that before. But then… he really let me down. Why should I be the only one risking my ass for us to be together?"

"Well… think about it this way. Is there even a small chance that you could really fall in love with him? You don't want to close the door on true love, right?" she pointed out, holding the Cafe door open for me. "But if you don't think you could ever love him, I'd just give up."

I groaned loudly, plopping down in our favorite booth. "That's the thing… I think I could really easily fall for him. But I really just don't know him well enough yet."

"Do you want to?"

Aqua came over to the table before I could answer, but Nami's words echoed through me as I realized that I really did want to. I honestly wanted nothing more than to get to know Axel better. But was it really worth it?

…..

It was starting to get dark out as I stumbled my way down the path to the lake. I still needed to get used to the rocky dirt paths around here, and maybe stop shuffling my feet so much. I was gonna end up on my ass if I wasn't careful.

Axel was waiting for me near Demy's house looking way too incredibly handsome in a pair of black skinny jeans and a red and black plaid flannel shirt. I _loved_ flannel shirts. It made me want to fling myself into his arms and nuzzle close to the soft fabric. Not to mention that it probably smelled like his cologne…

When I got closer to him, he just started to walk away from me without a word, so I assumed that I was meant to follow him. He headed into the woods, following a river that flowed off the lake until we eventually came upon a clearing that had a nice park bench overlooking the water. He sat down, so I took a seat next to him and waited for him to finally say something.

"Nobody should catch us out here," he finally spoke, scooting as far away from me as he could. "Not even Reno."

"Axel…"

"No," he cut me off, his jaw tight and his hands balled up into fists. "I'm so sorry. I should have stopped him. I… I was too afraid of him to stand up for you, and I'm furious with myself for it."

I furrowed my brow in confusion, looking up at him. "But… he's your brother. He wouldn't hurt you, would he?"

"If he thought it would teach me a lesson," he shrugged, seeming to relax just a little. "Reno's a huge advocate for 'tough love' as a way to keep me in line. And he's pissed off enough just thinking that we might be friends. If he found out about that kiss… God, he'd go homicidal."

"So… do you think we should just stay away from each other? I don't want you to get hurt."

He grit his teeth in frustration. "Yes… but no. I don't fucking know! That kiss, Roxas… holy fuck, that kiss was amazing. I don't know if I can keep myself away from you any longer."

"Well… you're just going to have to try. I think we've got to just face facts, Axel, and the fact is that it's too dangerous for us to be together. We should just stop before anybody else gets hurt."

It was a bit dark, but I could see him clench his fists again as he growled lowly. "So what? I just have to watch that British drunk show up at your door every god damned night? I should just sit back and let him use you for his own selfish needs? Pretend I don't see the bruises he leaves on you?"

"I mean… if we aren't together, you really don't have any say in what I do with anyone…" I reminded him, though that just seemed to piss him off more.

"I fucking hate this!" he shouted, leaping to his feet and starting to pace back and forth in front of me. "I wish I could just tell Reno to go fuck himself!"

I stayed in my seat, trying to remain calm while he worked through his rage. "He's your only family, Axel. I understand that you can't just be done with him at the snap of a finger."

"Some family he is," he muttered angrily, raking his fingers through his mess of red hair as he stalked back and forth. "I've spent my entire life suffering because of this feud between our families and I'm sick of it!"

"Axel, sit back down and just breathe for a minute," I told him, patting the bench beside me. "We can't change our pasts, so there's no use in getting so mad about it."

He sighed in defeat and slumped back onto the seat, resting his head in his hands. "I hate this. I can't handle it. I'm a fucking 32 year old adult. I should be able to make my own decisions."

"Look… lets just agree to drop it. I know that it's hard… believe me, I know, but it's just not going to work out. We need to let go of this whole thing so that we can move on with our lives. It'll be easier on everybody in the end if we stop it before it spirals out of control."

" _Fine_ ," he let out an exasperated groan, throwing his hands up in the air. "I guess we'll never even get the chance to try."

I sat in silence for awhile, a million thoughts running through my mind. "For what it's worth…" I mumbled softly, staring down at my feet as I kicked them through the grass nervously, "That kiss was absolutely breathtaking…"

He stayed quiet for a long time, so I continued to shuffle my sneakers in the dirt, wondering if that was the wrong thing to say. I just needed him to know how much that kiss had affected me.

I yelped in surprise as he suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and turned my entire body to face him. I had all of .02 seconds to object before his lips were on mine again, capturing me in another intoxicating kiss that I couldn't resist.

I wanted to fight, sure. I wanted to pull away and maybe smack him a little. But the smell of his spiced cologne flooded my senses and he tasted like cinnamon gum and… I got lost in it all. His hands moved from my shoulders up to cradle the back of my head and pull me closer, and I let him. I completely melted in his embrace, my brain short circuiting as his tongue began to explore my mouth.

So much time passed, but I honestly could have sat there all night making out with him. When he finally pulled himself away, I actually whined in protest, grabbing for him to come back. But he stood up and, without another word, disappeared into the darkness.

And now I was addicted.

…..

 **A/N:** Ooh! You guys got a bit of a longer chapter out of me. ^^ Funny enough, I wrote it by hand at work today and I was really worried that it wouldn't be long enough. But yay! It's up to standards!

UGH I wish I could just tell you guys all the epic things that are gonna happen! I can't wait. Axel and Roxas are soooo cute.

Please please please remember to review for me! Love it when you guys leave me comments!

 _Simply Rexene_


	16. Sixteen

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Sixteen_

"So… how long have you and Luxord been dating?"

I dropped my fork and stared at Ventus in surprise, nearly choking on my food as everybody at the table turned and locked their eyes on me. " _What_?"

"You and Luxord. You're dating, right?" he asked again, way too casually for my comfort level.

"Right, we've seen you two making eyes at each other in the bar," Sora waggled his eyebrows suggestively, elbowing me in the side.

"And I've seen him at your house every night for the past couple weeks," Hayner chimed in.

This was quickly becoming the most awkward Monday night family dinner in all history. "Did you all know…?" I looked around the table, watching them all nod in response. Even Yuna nodded, and she was a damned _child_. "And… it doesn't bother you?"

This time they all shrugged and shook their heads. "You've got every right to be happy," Ven smiled, patting me on the back. "And by the way, if Luxord thought for one second that we didn't all know he's gay, he's delusional."

"Oh," I blinked a couple times, amazed at their acceptance of the whole thing.

"So you two are dating? That's so sweet!" Aunt Tifa squealed, clapping her hands together happily.

"Well, not exac-"

"They'd better be," Hayner scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I had the bedroom window open last night and Olette and I heard _way_ more than we needed to."

I felt my face flush dark red and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die as they all laughed. "I'm so sorry…" I mumbled, hiding my face in my hands.

Olette just smiled warmly, reaching across the table and touching my arm comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, dear. We're just happy that you found someone."

"But the thing is, we're not really-"

I was cut off again by Hayner suddenly standing up like he was about to make a huge announcement. "Everyone, Olette and I have something to tell you, and I just can't wait one minute more."

They all turned their attention to him, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. I really did not want to talk about Luxord anymore.

She stood up next to him with a goofy smile and we all quickly realized what they were going to say.

"You're pregnant!" Tifa screeched before they could even get it out.

"Saix confirmed it for us yesterday," she nodded, latching onto Hayner's arm and holding her stomach like pregnant women always did. "It's still early, but we're just so excited!"

Everybody started to fuss over them, and I threw in the typical congratulations before slumping down in my seat, grateful that they had somehing else to focus on. But now I had a problem; they all thought Luxord and I were dating. And I had a feeling that if I told them we were just fuck-buddies, it would not go over well.

…..

I was on my way to the bar the next evening to meet Luxord for wing night, and I was so incredibly nervous to talk to him about all of it. Even though we weren't dating, we'd somehow fallen into an odd tradition of meeting up every couple days at the Bar or sometimes the Cafe for dinner. It was so easy to just pick up a routine and stick to it out here. I guess we were all creatures of habit living in such a small town.

I sat down across from him at our usual table in the back, trying really hard to avoid eye contact with him. He already had my Jack and Coke in front of me and I assumed that my order of hell-wings were on their way.

"What's wrong, Rox? You look about ready to throw up," he raised an eyebrow curiously, trying to get me to look at him.

I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes tightly, starting to quickly ramble, "So I guess my whole family has seen us together and they figured out that we've been… you know… 'cause Hayner heard us one night and then they all kind of assumed that we're dating and I tried to tell them that we weren't, but they wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise and then-"

"Roxas," he raised up a hand to cut me off, leaning forward in his seat, "You realize that the entire town has known for at least a week already?"

"But how?!"

He chuckled, "Well, I haven't exactly been denying it. Xion figured it out that first time we hung out here and she squawked to the whole town about it. I figured you'd be just as embarassed as I would to admit that it's only sex, so I just rolled with the whole 'dating' nonsense."

"So… you've been telling people that we're dating?" I stared at him in disbelief, eyes wide.

"No, but I haven't been correcting them either," he shrugged, relaxing back into his chair. "It's not like it's the worst thing in the world anyways. At least we aren't interested in other people or some bullshit. Being the only gay guys in town has it's perks there. Less drama."

My jaw tensed as I thought about Axel and I had to try really hard to bite my tongue about it. Axel and I decided to drop it and let go, so I was going to do exactly that. "Well… do you _want_ to be dating?" I wondered, glancing up at him curiously from underneath my bangs.

"If that's what you wanna tell people, I'm fine with it. It's not like much would change if we were or weren't. We'd still likely meet up like we do anyways, and we obviously would still have our fun every night. If a label is what your family needs to be happy, give them one."

"Oh… okay," I nodded, relaxing a little. I was glad that he wasn't super serious about it, because I really had no desire to date him. It'd taken a lot of begging just to finally get him to stop leaving hickeys all over me, so I didn't even want to know what trying to compromise in a relationship would be like.

We both jumped out of our skin when the door slammed open and Reno stalked into the Bar, gluing his ass to his usual bar stool in the corner. He seemed particularly pissy today, though I'm not sure why. Axel and I hadn't seen each other for a couple weeks since that night at the lake, though I guess Reno didn't really need a reason to be in a bad mood. He just always was.

Luxord and I tried to ignore him, chattering on about random bullshit while Reno threw back drink after drink. I could tell that Riku wanted to cut him off, but was too afraid to say anything. And either way, it was fine until he started becoming belligerent. He kept calling Xion some very unsavory names and trying to grope her when she'd walk by.

"Fuck it, someone's got to say something," Luxord finally slammed his fist on the table, clearly at the end of his tolerance for the drunk. "He can't just treat her like that!"

"Luxord, just stay out of it. He's a fucking psychopath," I said, a little bit louder than I probably should have.

Before I had a split second to react, Reno stormed over and grabbed the back of my chair, yanking it right out from under me and sending it flying across the room. I scrambled to catch my balance, nearly dragging the entire table onto the floor with me as he snarled. "You just think you're hot shit, don't you?!" he bellowed, lifting me to my feet by the collar of my shirt and getting up in my face. "You think you can just judge me and my family like we're some sort of fucking sideshow?!"

"I'm not judging anyone!" I yelped, clawing at his arm to let me go. "Your reputation around here is your own god damned fault!"

"Don't act like you know me, _or_ my brother! Ever since you waltzed into our lives, you've just been fucking everything up! We might lose the farm, and it's all your fault!"

I finally yanked myself away from him, coughing a little. "I haven't even started selling crops yet! How the fuck is it my fault?!"

"Bullshit you haven't! Our business is tanking and it's not a coincidence!"

"Your farm is tanking because you're a terrible person! It's no surprise to me that nobody wants to do business with you!" I shouted right in his face, the alcohol in my system making me a lot more confrontational than usual. It was taking all of my willpower not to just deck him right in the face.

He grit his teeth together tightly, breathing heavily as he tried to think of a comeback. Finally one came to him and it seethed from his mouth like venom. "Well it's not like anybody would want to do business with a _faggot_ like you anyways!"

I tried so hard to resist. Really I did. But all that was going through my mind was _fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it,_ "FUCK IT," I declared out loud, rearing my fist back to hit him.

But he somehow managed to catch my fist in mid-air before it made contact, using his other hand to punch me as hard as he could. I could hear bone shattering as he knocked me into the next century. I was out cold before I even hit the ground.

…..

 **A/N:** OMG. The drama of it all! And it only gets better from here. I can't wait!

See you guys next time! Remember to leave a review!

 _Simply Rexene_


	17. Seventeen

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Seventeen_

It took Axel three days to contact me after he heard about Reno knocking me out in the bar, but I wasn't sure if I even wanted to talk to him. It'd taken a lot of strength to try and get over him, and just when I thought I was close… he was going to try to pull me back in.

Reno had broken my nose and left me with a raccoon-style mask of bruising around my eyes, which was definitely not an attractive look for me. The whole situation had me pissed to all hell, and I was incredibly cranky to anybody who tried to console me. Of course, Namine had been over every day to fuss over me, but that third day she also came bearing a note from Axel.

"He wants you to meet him again, I think. He wasn't very talkative this time," she told me, curling up on the recliner in my living room. "I don't even know who told him what happened. I doubt Reno would have mentioned it."

"He has his ways, I'm sure…" I grumbled, halfway inclined to tear up the note without even reading it. But I unfolded it only to find the words "eight o'clock" written on the inside and nothing else. I assumed that we'd meet at that secret spot in the woods by the lake again. … _If_ I decided to show up.

She sighed, shaking her head in disapproval. "This whole thing is so fucked up. I thought you guys decided to stop seeing each other!"

"We did!" I growled in frustration, hissing as pain throbbed through my face from yelling. "We both decided it would be easier for everyone if we stayed away from each other. But then we kissed, and-"

"You kissed again?! You didn't tell me that part!" she sat straight up, nearly dumping herself out of the chair. "Tell me everything!"

I rolled my eyes, nodding. "Fine… that same night at the lake, when we were done talking, he kissed me again. And then we kind of maybe… made out on the bench for awhile…" I looked up at her sheepishly, chewing on my lower lip.

"Roxas!" she scolded me, slapping a hand over her mouth in surprise. "Oh my gosh, so did he say anything after?"

"No, he just got up and left! So I have no idea what any of it means. I thought we'd agreed to stay away, but… did that kiss just open the door right back up?"

She thought for a moment. "Well, maybe he just wanted some closure. You know, something to remember you by?"

"Then why does he want to meet up again?" I wondered, so confused and exhausted. I was in constant pain, and I couldn't take anything to ease it. I… had 'issues' with painkillers when I was in high school.

"He probably just wants to apologize for what Reno did, right?"

I sneered at the mention of his name, huffing loudly. "Well if he'd have grown some god damned balls and stood up to Reno, none of this would have happened. I'm not sure why he thinks he has the right to apologize to me for it."

"Ugh… you guys are like starcrossed lovers, torn from each other tragically."

"This isn't fucking Romeo and Juliet," I leveled my eyes on her, wishing she'd stop treating it like a big romance novel. "There were some feelings shared between us, but it's not going to work out. We both need to just man up and accept it."

"So then are you gonna meet up with him or not?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea."

…..

 _ **FROM AXEL'S POV**_

It was half past eight when Roxas finally showed up, looking like absolute hell. I didn't even want to know what he looked like in daylight, because all I could see was a huge bruise stretching across his entire face. I felt absolutely fucking horrible for what Reno had done, and I didn't even begin to know how to apologize for it.

"Roxas…"

"No," he snapped, stepping close enough that I could see him glaring. "You listen to me and you listen to me good. You either grow a pair and stand up to your brother, or stay the fuck away from me. I am so fucking done with your family's bullshit. I don't know what you think you're going to say to fix this, but save it. I'm _done_."

"But Rox-"

" _Done_ ," he shot me an ice cold gaze, repeating himself.

He turned and started to walk away, but I couldn't bring myself to let him go. I reached out and grabbed him by the arm, keeping a tight enough grip on him to stop him in his tracks. "Just come sit down for a minute. I really need to talk to you."

He very reluctantly sat down next to me on the bench, keeping his jaw taut with irritation as I spoke. "So here's the thing, Roxas… I can't stop thinking about you. I have tried everything to keep you off of my mind, and I just can't do it. You're literally the only person I've ever known that makes me feel this way, and I can't bring myself to let that go. You could be my only chance at true love in this town, and fuck if I'm going to let that get away."

"I understand that, Axel, I really do… but seriously? You expect me to get involved with you when your brother could actually murder me? Look at my face! I'm going to be lucky if I even look the same after this heals!"

"Can't you look at it from my side? My brother pretty much raised me, and I'm supposed to completely forsake him over a crush? I just… I just want to know if this is something worth fighting for. And I'm not sure yet. I don't know you well enough."

He glanced up at me curiously. "So what, you think we should get to know each other first? And in the meantime, maybe he can break a few more of my bones?"

"Give me five dates. Five secret dates that he'll never know about. We'll meet somewhere that he won't find us and just talk. Please, Roxas… I need this." I was going to go insane in this place if I had to watch him live his life from afar.

After a long, torturous silence, he finally nodded. "Fine. Five dates. We can give it a chance and see if we're really worth it. But if we decide that we want to be together, you _have_ to stand up to your brother. I'm not going to live my life in fear anymore."

"I promise, Roxas. But I need you to promise me something too."

"...What?"

I grit my teeth just thinking about it. "You've _got_ to stop fucking around with Luxord. Seriously, it's like pure torture seeing him show up every night."

"I… can break things off with him. He's a little too much to handle anyways."

"Good," I muttered, glad that it wasn't going well. I fucking despised that guy, and the thought of them together made me sick.

I sat there awkwardly for awhile, waiting for him to say or do something. There was no way he was going to tolerate another rash action like that kiss last time, but it was hard to keep my hands off him. I was way too overly excited that he'd agreed to the five dates.

"Axel, quit shaking your leg," he snapped, grabbing my knee and stopping my foot from shaking up and down nervously. I hadn't even realized I was doing it, but when Roxas touched me I could feel my heart leap into my throat.

"S…sorry…" I mumbled, stopping the nervous twitch and turning to look down at him. "I know you probably don't want to hear it, but I really am sorry about what Reno did…"

The look that he met me with this time shocked the fuck out of me, because he looked like he was ready to jump me on the bench. It was definitely a far cry from the cold glare I'd gotten just minutes ago. "Fuck it, why are you so damned cute?!" he groaned in frustration, running his hands through his hair. "I literally can not stay mad at you!"

"I'm… okay with that?" I joked feebly, no idea what the hell was going on in his mind right now.

"I've developed a new mantra lately," he told me, locking his eyes on mine, "And apparently, it's 'fuck it.' So… _fuck it_ ," he stressed the phrase, reaching up and pulling me down into a kiss.

I gasped in surprise, nearly falling right off the bench as he locked my lips with his, immediately wrapping my arms around him and pulling him in close. I don't know why we couldn't seem to fight this attraction to each other, but in that moment I seriously didn't care.

…..

 **A/N:** Fuck yes! Two chapters in two hours! I love all this planning ahead nonsense. ^^

I was good to you with two updates, so be good to me with some reviews! Hehe. I wanna know if I'm heading in the right direction. There's sooo much more to come!

Love ya!

 _Simply Rexene_


	18. Eighteen

**Author** **'s WARNING:** This chapter contains a rape scene! Please don't read it if it bothers you!

 **The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Eighteen_

"Soooo…?"

I about had a heart attack when I flipped the lights on in my living room and found Namine still sitting in the recliner where I'd left her hours ago. "What the hell are you still doing here?! It's like eleven o'clock at night!"

"Exactly," she stared at me suspiciously, giving me the stink eye. "What were you doing with Axel for nearly three hours? Hmmm?"

I groaned and flopped down on the couch, knowing she was going to read me every riot act in the book. "Well… we were talking for awhile…"

"And thennn?"

"None of your damned business!" I snapped, throwing a pillow over my face. She didn't need to know that we made out for the better part of an hour.

She whined loudly, hanging over the arm of the chair. "C'monnnnn… You at least gotta tell me what you talked about!"

"Fine! Fine… I'm going to need your help anyways," I grumbled, sitting up and hugging the pillow tightly. "Keep in mind that I was completely ready to cut ties with him. But… we kind of decided to go on five secret dates, just to see if all of this is even worth it. After that, he either has to tell Reno to fuck off, or we're done for good."

"Ooh, secret dates? That's so romantic!" she squealed, swooning over the side of the chair. "Oh my goodness, it's so adorable! Ooh! And you should totally use the hotel for your dates! I won't charge you to use one of the rooms!"

I grimaced, blushing nervously. "I'm not sure if Axel and I alone in a hotel room is such a good idea…"

She thought about that for a minute before it dawned on her what I meant, and her eyes widened. "Oh… right. Well, you could use our kitchen to have dinner together for one of them! I can keep everyone out of the house for a few hours."

"That might be nice! Except I suck hardcore at cooking…" I mumbled, suddenly feeling embarrassed about the whole ordeal. "I'm not sure if this is such a good idea anyways."

"Axel knows how to cook," she grinned, leaning over and poking me in the arm. "I'll give him the message and tell him to make something good."

I perked up a little, finding it incredibly attractive that he knew how to cook. "God, there's so much more I want to know about him! Can we maybe get this set up for tomorrow, or is that too soon?"

"I'll see what I can do. Ooh, do I get to be your secret liason?"

"You can call yourself whatever the hell you want. I'm just grateful that you're willing to help us. If we got caught by Reno…"

"He wouldn't do anything to me. Plus now I've got Van to protect me," she giggled, twirling her hair around her finger. "I'll let you know by early afternoon tomorrow if you're good to go. I should get home before Kairi and Xion come looking for me."

I jumped as she slammed the footrest of the recliner down, raising an eyebrow at her. "You just don't want me to ask you about Van."

"Good night, Roxas!" she sang, disappearing out the front door. I was glad she was happy with him. They made an adorable, albeit strange couple.

As I headed up to bed, my heart was racing with the thought of spending an evening with Axel without fearing for my life. I just hoped that we got along as well as I thought we would.

…..

I recieved word from Namine that we were on for seven o'clock at her house the next day, and I was so extremely excited that by six o'clock I was bouncing around my living room like a kangaroo on crack.

…Which is why the loud knocking on the door scared me so badly that I nearly fell backwards off my couch. Whoever was there sounded… angry, and I had to wonder if Reno had somehow already discovered our plans.

I yanked the door open, surprised to find Luxord standing there looking absolutely trashed drunk. Great. Just what I needed right before my first date with Axel. "Uhm… what's up, Luxord?"

"I wanna fuck. C'mon, let's go." He tried to shove his way into the house, but I caught him by the shoulder and pushed him back.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. We can't fuck around anymore. I'm done," I told him, trying to block the doorway.

He scowled, looking confused. "What are you on about? Move!"

"No! I just told you, I'm done sleeping with you! Now get off my porch!"

I yelped as he forced me into the house, slamming the door behind him. "Quit with your nonsense and take off your clothes."

"No way in hell!" I scrambled across the living room, trying to get as much distance between us as possible. "Jeez, how much have you been drinking?"

"Enough," he slurred, advancing on me. "Now take your damned clothes off."

I scoffed, grunting as my back hit the wall behind me. "Fuck off, Luxord."

"Just hush and let it happen, love. You know you want it," his lips grazed my ear, making me shiver. His breath reeked of alcohol and it was making my stomach queasy.

I turned my head away from him, breathing hard as I tried to devise some kind of clever escape. Nothing was coming to mind… he had his entire body pressed to mine now, and his arms were blocking me from each side. "Luxord, I'm seeing someone else," I blurted out, hoping that maybe he'd let his guard down if I surprised him.

Instead he reached up and snatched me by the throat, forcing me to meet his eyes. "Like hell you are! There's nobody else here for you to see!"

Gasping for air, I clawed up his arm while I struggled against him, but it only seemed to excite him more to watch me squirm. "Let me go!" I choked out, trying to kick at him weakly.

He muffled the rest of my protesting with a harsh, uncaring kiss, obviously dead set on getting what he wanted. There'd be no talking to him while he was so smashed. All I could think about was Axel… He was probably already cooking us dinner, humming happily to himself and trying to think of topics to talk about on our date.

And here I was with captain asshole trying to get in my pants. My eyes kept darting to the door, wishing that Axel would burst through it and save the day like a night in shining armor, but I knew he wouldn't. I knew exactly what my fate was.

My heart nearly gave out as the sound of fabric ripping pulled me out of my daydream, and I looked down to find one of my favorite shirts torn open. "Fuck, Luxord, watch it!" I barked, glaring at him.

"Shut the fuck up," his voice lowered and the grip around my throat tightened up again. He was playing with my ability to breathe like I was a toy, and it was beginning to make me incredibly lightheaded.

"Please…" I gasped, feeling his other hand fumbling with my belt. He unbuckled it and slipped it out of my jeans, stopping for a moment to stare at it in wonder.

"I did always think you'd be cute in a collar…" he mumbled to himself, catching me as I tried to duck under his arm for freedom. He reached up and replaced the hand around my neck with the thick black leather of my belt, slipping it back through the buckle and tightening it to fit snugly.

The feeling of the makeshift "collar" snaking around my neck made me panic in a claustrophobic nightmare and I lost my mind, struggling hopelessly against him. But yet again, my pain and terror only seemed to spur him on. He just tightened the leather even more and proceeded to rid me of my pants.

I don't care to recall the rest of the hour that he was there, but chances are that anything you're assuming is correct.

…..

 **Author's Note:** Yeah… I know. I disappear for weeks and then smack you in the face with a rape scene. Sorry to anyone touchy on the subject. Either way, it gives really good leeway into what I have planned next! Don't worry, Luxy will learn a very difficult lesson. And Roxas is all right.

Love you guys! Remember to review for me!

 _Simply Rexene_


	19. Nineteen

**The (Other) End of the Road**

 _Chapter Nineteen_

 _ **FROM AXEL**_ _ **'S POV**_

Dinner was getting cold fast and there was still no sign of Roxas. My brain kept trying to convince me that I'd been stood up, but my heart was holding on to the notion that he was just running late. I wanted to get up and leave, but I couldn't bring myself to give up.

But when a half hour had rolled by, I knew that I at least needed to go look for Namine and see if she'd heard anything from him. I was halfway down the stairs to find her when the front door of the Inn burst open and Roxas came flying inside looking like absolute hell and breathing really heavily.

"Roxas? What happened?" I asked him, rushing down the stairs to look him over. My eyes immediately snapped to a huge red welt around his neck and a bruise that looked like a handprint forming around it. "Who did that to you? Was it Reno?"

He shook his head weakly, coughing hoarsely. "N-no…"

"Then what the hell happened?!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arm around his waist and helping him sit down on the bottom step of the stairs.

"I don't want to talk about it…" he mumbled softly, curling forward into a ball. "Ow…"

I sat down next to him, placing a hand gently on his back in comfort. "I don't mean to sound insensitive, Rox, but… I don't fucking care. Tell me what happened. Now."

He leaned into my side, resting his head against my chest and letting out a soft sob. "Luxord came to my house drunk out of his mind about an hour ago…"

My entire body tensed up and my jaw clenched hard. " _What?_ "

"I'm sorry… I tired so hard to stop it…" he sniffled, reaching over and wrapping me in a hug as he cried.

I could feel my heart melting in sorrow for him, but at the same time a dark rage began to build up deep inside me. "So he forced himself on you?" I bit out, pulling him into my arms. It was pretty clear to me what went down, but I wanted to hear it from him before I went on a manhunt.

"You can't go after him, Axel." He looked up at me with those gorgeous blue eyes and I almost forgot how mad I was for a minute.

"Like hell I can't!" I huffed, already plotting out my revenge plan in my head.

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, shaking his head again. "Nuhuh… 'cause he'll tell Reno about us if you do."

"Not if I murder him…"

Roxas jumped a little at the low timbre of my voice, his eyes widening. "Axel…"

"Relax… I'm not gonna actually do it. Maybe fantasize about it, but-"

"No," he interrupted me, frowning. "We've worked too hard already to make this work. I don't want him to ruin it. Just… forget it ever happened. I'll be fine."

Yeah, like I could really just forget about it. Luxord was going to be shitting his own teeth for the next few weeks if I had anything to say about it. "You know I can't do that…"

"Please, Axel! Believe me, I wanna beat the shit out of him just as much as you do, but not if it means potentially losing you."

"How does he even know about us? Did you tell him?" I wondered, looking down at him.

He sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "No… but if you get involved, he's gonna figure it out really quickly. We're supposed to hate each other."

Just seeing how scared he was to confront Luxord about this was incredibly eye opening for me. Roxas was so scared of my brother that he was willing to just roll over and accept that he'd literally been raped. And I wasn't okay with that.

"Fuck this," I growled, carefully prying Roxas off of me and standing up. "Fuck secret dates, fuck sneaking around, fuck hiding from my asshole brother. I'm done."

"So… you're just giving up? It's over?" He looked like he was going to burst into tears all over again.

I let out a bark of laughter, shaking my head as I started to pace back and forth to work myself up. "No! I'm trying to say that I'm not giving up! I… I'm going to go talk to my brother. Today. Right now. And then I'm going to go castrate Luxord."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… hang on, Axel. We have no idea how Reno is going to react. Do you really want to do this?"

"Not really, but I'm gonna! 'Cause I know for sure that I don't want to let Luxord get away with this! I wanna shove a god damned squirrel down his throat!"

Roxas snickered at that one, wincing in pain. "I don't want you to get hurt, though…"

"Believe me, I'll be fine. If Reno wants to take me on, I'll gladly kick his ass. He was the one who taught me how to fight anyways."

"Why would you need to know how to fight?"

I chuckled. "I forgot that you didn't grow up with your brother. Siblings always fight. It's what we do. And either way… When you've got something worth fighting for, you find a way to win."

He smiled softly, reaching up and grabbing one of my hands to stop my nervous pacing. "Just be careful, okay? I'll be right behind you for backup."

"Ohh no," I stopped him from standing up, "You stay right here. I'm going to get Namine to take care of you. You're in no condition to fight anyone or anything right now."

He slapped my hands away and slowly pulled himself to his feet, determined to prove me wrong. "I'm not letting you do this by yourself," he declared, stumbling forward and clinging onto the wall to steady himself.

"What the hell did he do to you…?" I had to wonder, my heart breaking all over again as I realized how much pain he was really in.

"If I told you, you probably really would murder him…" he whispered, leaning into the wall. "Go get Namine..."

I grumbled, wanting to know badly but not wanting to make him relive it. "We need a damned police force in this town… Maybe he'd learn his lesson if he had to rot in jail for a few centuries."

He took me by surprise as he staggered away from the wall and wrapped his arms around my waist tightly. "Thank you."

"For what? Defending you against a creepy rapist? You could probably rally the entire town to go kick his ass if you wanted to," I smiled, holding him close.

"No, I don't want anybody else to know… It's embarrassing. I shouldn't have ever started anything with him."

"This is not your fault, Roxas," I reminded him, looking down into his eyes. They were so easy to get lost in…

He nodded, keeping his eyes locked on mine. "I know… I just wish that we could start today over. I wanted everything to be perfect, and… it's not."

"Well… let me go take care of Reno and Luxord, and… provided that I'm still breathing tomorrow, we'll finally have our perfect night. Promise."

"That's not making me feel better," he pouted, burying his head in my chest.

I had to admit, I was pretty terrified to stand up to my brother. I wanted to believe that I could take him, but I had the feeling that it wasn't going to go very well for me. But it would be worth it to finally get my head out of my ass and stand up for Roxas.

Time would tell.

…..

 **Author's Note:** Weird transitional chapters are never fun… but they're so cute together! :D

Love you all!

 _Simply Rexene_


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